Hunters of Fate
by CenturionAfricanus
Summary: Percy was betrayed. He was cast aside and killed. He now leads a group to protect those like him, the ones fate has been especially cruel to. NOT a true chaos fic Rated T for swearing and paranoia. Caleo, Thalico, Percabeth
1. Chapter 1

A/N I do not own PJO or HOO. All rights go to cliff hanger master Rick Riordan

**Percy POV**

Pain, unbelievable pain shot through my entire body. I felt like each of my cells were being torn apart, filled with lava, then put back to create one of the most painful ways to die. That was what it felt like to be hit directly hit with Zeus's master bolt.

Let me back it up and explain why the twice savior of Olympus was suddenly public enemy #1

~~~~**Flashback**~~~~

_I was nervously pacing on the beach, I had finally decided to propose to Annabeth, but something stopped me. That something was her overprotective mother. Oh, did I mention she hates my guts as well. I called her to the beach at Camp Half-Blood to try and find a way to convince her to let me marry her daughter. _

_Hey Seaweed brain. I heard from behind me. Speak of Hades, Annabeth could not have chosen a worse time. _

_Hey Wise girl I called back to her and when she got close enough, I scooped her into a quick kiss. _

_She giggled a little, now I know something was wrong. My Wise girl never EVER giggled. I decided to go along with pretending she was Annabeth. We talked for a little and it became more and more obvious that the girl I was talking to was not Annabeth. She didn't remember my birthday. She also didn't answer the question we had made up to make sure the other was not a shape shifter correctly. I started to go through who this person next to me might be. Aphrodite? No, I knew she was crushing on me and since she hadn't tried to do anything physical yet I knew it couldn't be her. Monster, couldn't be. I was still in camp and with my rep, any monster, titan, or giant would have already tried to rip my head off. That left only one option, Lady Athena. _

_So Lady Athena, I asked innocently, is this a test?_

_She looked appalled, she got up and changed back into her goddess form then shrunk back to normal size. _

_I credit you young Perseus, I didn't think you would be wise enough to tell it was me, but pray tell, what gave me away? She asked, tilting her head like Annabeth did when she was deep in thought. _

_It was easy, I answered. As soon as you giggled after I kissed you, I knew you weren't Annabeth. On top of that, you didn't know half of what Annabeth knows about me and didn't know the answer to the security we have. _

_Again you surprise me Perseus, I would have never thought you and my daughter had a question like that. You have passed the first of the three tests. The test of mind. Next comes the test of body and then the test of will. Pass these tests, and you have permission to marry my daughter._

_Then what are we waiting for I asked, let's do this. I responded while getting out Riptide. _

_Good she replied, now think back to all your quests, who was the one opponent, outside of Tartarus, that you could not beat with that sword. _

_I thought long and hard, then it came to me. A golden medusa face. Chrysaor. I answered. _

_Good Athena answered me. Now prepare yourself Perseus, and pray you have practiced. This will be a fight to the death. Now what to use as an arena. I know. With that she snapped her fingers and flashed me into Met Life stadium, home to both NY football teams. _

_I was getting tired of being made fight for entertainment of gods. First in the labyrinth, then in Rome and now this. Calm down Percy I told myself. This is to prove you are worthy of Annabeth. Do it for her. I looked up at the press box where Athena was watching, send him in I called to her. And with that, Chrysaor appeared on the other side of the field. He looked confused until he saw me. He gave a hearty laugh and charged. _

_I won't get into specifics, but basically it was a four hour gore fest of non-stop fighting. By the time it was over, I felt lightheaded from blood loss and I was pretty I broke half the bones in my body, but I held up the head of Chrysaor for Athena to see before I collapsed. _

_I woke up in my mom's apartment. She poked her head and told me I had been out for a few days after I flashed in on the kitchen table during dinner in an unconscious wreck. She had given me some nectar and ambrosia and left me to rest. I thanked her, gave her a big hug and headed back to camp. Before I even got to the bus stop, Athena approached me. _

_I see you are back on your feet, impressive, I thought you would be out for another few days. For impressing me I will let you choose between two options for your final test. Live a month with the hunters as their maid or live with the Amazons for a month as one of their serving men. _

_I groaned internally, test of will my ass. More like suicide mission. Hunters I finally answered her. _

_She smiled at me with an evil light in her eyes, crap, what have I gotten myself into. With that final thought, she flashed me into Artemis's tent to explain. _

_After Athena was done explaining, she flashed out, little did I know was she went to go talk to some of the hunters secretly. _

_So.. Artemis started, since you will be working for us, here is a daily and weekly chore list. The rules are simple, NEVER, EVER, for ANY reason are you to flirt with a hunter, they will have permission to defend themselves anyway possible if that happens. Second do not harm the hunters, any of our wolves, or any of my sacred deer. Any of the above will result in a new jackalope head in my collection. Finally, if I tell you to do something, you do it. Am I clear?_

_Crystal I responded. _

_Good, you start in the morning. Here is a tent, camp past the stream a little ways down. _

_And thus began my life in hell. The chores were hard and it didn't help that the hunters, minus  
Thalia were trying to kill, sorry I mean prank, me. But I put my head down and just went with it. For Annabeth I told myself, do it for Annabeth. _

_I almost made it. On the last day the hunters, minus Thalia and Artemis, finally did the unforgivable. It started with the bear trap. I was walking back from packing my tent for my departure the next day. We were camping in west Canada, so I had set up my tent next to the Pacific Ocean. After the bear trap closed on my leg, a pit trap fell out from under me. I was hanging over a pit of snakes hanging by my trapped ankle. I shrieked in pain as I felt by leg break. Several hunters came out of bushes and started laughing their head off, Phoebe, who was the leader, laughing the hardest. _

_You should really see the stupid look on your face male, laughing all the while. We are here to prevent you from taking our mistress from us. We know why you are really here. _

_Now I was confused, what was she talking about? What are you talking about I asked while I grimaced in pain. _

_Lady Athena came to us the day you arrived. She told us you were here to try and seduce Artemis and if you weren't successful, you were going to kidnap her and we would never see her again. So we are not letting that happen. We are going to kill you and then tell Artemis you tried to flirt with us and we were just defending ourselves. She smiled at me evilly, good bye Perseus Jackson and she pointed her bow at my face._

_I snapped._

_I felt the tug of the ocean at I called it to me, as much as I could, which turned out to be a lot. That day, West Canada was hit by the biggest tidal wave in history. It crashed down on the hunters and I used it to pry myself out of the bear trap. I sent the water back to the ocean, not realizing it still had the hunters in gasping for air. I got up, brushed off and walk back to camp. I get permission to leave from Artemis and I go back to camp. Athena flashes in as I reach the foot of Half-blood hill. _

_I am impressed she tells me. No one has done what you just did without being castrated. I give you my blessing to marry my daughter, but wait at least a week, I am having Hephaestus make you a ring. _

_Thank you very much lady Athena, I swear to never hurt Annabeth consciously and will do everything in my ability to protect her. _

_Good Athena told now go back to camp and wait for the ring to appear in your pocket, then you may propose to my daughter. _

_As I was walking up the hill a scream could be heard behind me. A boy about my age was screaming while being chased by a single dracaena. I pulled out riptide, quickly stabbed the monster, and turned to see if the boy was ok. I found him holding a dagger at my gut and he quickly cut me open. He then proceeded to cover his blade in monster dust like he had done the work. The commotion that we started had drawn campers to us and Chiron walked over to me and helped me to the infirmary, after a bone crushing hug and tears of how happy he was to see me again. _

_They thought I was kidnapped again. It had completely slipped my mind to iris message any of them while with the hunters. It looked like I went down to the beach and never came back. After I got out of the infirmary, everybody but my closest friends was giving me the cold shoulder. After receiving a flying hug and many kisses from Annabeth, I asked her why everyone was treating me so coldly._

_It's that kid you saved. He is still unclaimed, but he said the dracaena sliced your stomach and he saved you, then you tried to kill him and he had to hold you off. For some reason, everyone who doesn't know you very well believes him, his story is so full of holes, I don't even come close to believing it._

_Good I responded. Kissing her or a long time. _

_As the week went on, my friends started dropping like flies. Katie accused me of ruining her garden. The Stolls were upset I rigged their prank to back fire on them. Clarisse was mad I broke her 34__th__ spear, Grover even got mad because I broke his pipes. Piper got mad because I took all of her ski jackets. Jason got upset I drew on his face in sharpie so his fore head read "super retard" _

_It got worse when the romans came to visit. Reyna thought I broke Arum and Argentum. Frank thought I destroyed his only picture of his mom. And Hazel got upset because she thought I melted down her spatha. _

_But I didn't do any of those things. I knew who it was, that new kid, Darren. He has watery blond hair like Octavian did. He was scrawny and could only lift a knife. He had no apparent powers to boot. Ever since he found out he was a son of Zeus he has been trying to lord over everyone. He has been treating new campers and his maids and butlers. The only people who didn't hate me were Chiron and Annabeth. Oh, and Nico and Thalia, but they were never around so that did not count for much. _

_At long last I got the ring from Athena. I knew I had to find Annabeth and propose because she was slowly becoming distant. I went to the Athena cabin and I saw it was empty. I checked Arts and Crafts, where all the Athena campers except for Annabeth._

_I approached Malcom and asked where she was_

_No idea dude he answered coldly, you gonna stab her like you tried to do to Darren?_

_Gods no, why would I do that Malcom, I am going to propose. _

_He started at me like he was just seeing me for the first time. I heard an audible pop and he shook himself, like he was coming out of a trance. _

_Whoa dude you ok, I asked nervously. _

_What happened, last thing I remember was getting mad at you then poof, no memory. _

_Weird I thought, no clue on Annabeth then? I asked, still a little worried about him. _

_I think she said something about going down to the beach, good luck with the proposal. _

_Thanks I told him and headed down to the beach. _

_I looked around and didn't see anyone at first, but when I checked the secret alcove only Annabeth and I knew about, I saw something that made my heart stop. I saw Annabeth learn forward and start making out with Darren. _

_What's worse was what I heard them saying. _

_I'm not going to write it down for the sake of those who may have just eaten, but the jist of it all was Darren bringing Annabeth back to his cabin and showing her something new. _

_I stared at them until Annabeth noticed me. _

_Percy. She said as if not believing her eyes. What, what are you doing here. She seemed to be in complete inner turmoil until Darren touched her hand. Then she started right at him at said the words that haunt me until this day. _

_Perseus Jackson, you are an arrogant brat. You are immature and have no respect for others, including the gods. Why are you surprised I am cheating on you when you cheated on me for a whole month. _

_I wasn't cheating on you I told her through grit teeth. You know my fatal flaw is loyalty, I could not cheat on you if I wanted to. I even fell into freaking Tartarus for you. TARTARUS! I was doing quests for your mother for that month so I could get this. _

_With that I pulled out the ring box and threw it at her feet. The beautiful ring popped out. It was silver laced with imperial gold. It had an owl made completely made out of a sea green diamond and it was engraved with the words Seaweed Brain and Wise girl, together forever. _

_To say she was shocked was an understatement. She looked sad and remorseful until Darren started kissing her again. When they broke apart, she seemed different. Her eyes were flecked with light blue and she laughed at me. _

_Why would I want to marry you she shrieked at me. You are nothing. Darren is the only person I would even consider marrying. He has saved Olympus twice and me personally many more. You are worthless guttersnipe. _

_That was the final blow. I summoned a tidal wave bigger than the Empire state building, bigger than Olympus itself and hurled it straight forward. It would have flooded all of New York, but instead it just turned the camp into a huge fishbowl due to the barrier. The water quickly drained, but not most of the camp got destroyed and washed away. The only buildings left standing were the Poseidon cabin and half of the Big House. I started to run, but got flashed into Olympus as well as Darren, Annabeth, and all the campers. _

_Percy Jackson, Zeus rumbled, you and your family are sentenced for the destruction of Camp Half Blood. Are there any Gods here who would protest this? Not counting you of course Poseidon, you are his father and would of course like to protect him. I looked at them hopefully, but only Hestia and Apollo raised their hands. _

_Very well. Zeus growled. Since my sister and son have vouched for you will not be sent to Tartarus again, you will instead be just killed. First your family, he pointed his lightning bolt out the window and it sent out a rather small bolt. A crash could be heard from way down below and Hades announced that Sally and Paul Blofis were killed, along with everyone in a 2 mile radius of them. _

_Collateral damage Zeus shrugged. Now for you young Perseus, and he pointed his bolt at me, any last words?_

_I thank you Lady Hestia and Lord Apollo, for not forcing me back into the pit. I accept my fate. _

**~~~~End Flashback~~~~**

Where was I, oh yeah the pain. It was getting worse, more than I could handle. I saw a golden fire race up around me and I fell into nothingness.

**Zeus POV**

When Perseus vanished, I looked to Hades

He is dead. Hades responded.

With that Poseidon broke down. He sobbed and sobbed. I glanced out at the crowd expecting to see sad faces, but everyone But Chiron had on identical smiles. Almost like they were puppets….

I looked at my new son and realization came crashing down on me. What had I just done?

**Darren POV**

My master's plan worked! Percy Jackson was gone. It was so easy, all I had to do was use despair. Now no one could stop the rise of my master.

**Nico POV**

I felt Sally and Paul die. Soon after came Percy. No. Not Percy. Percy did not die, but a very powerful being made it seem like he did.

I shadow traveled onto Olympus and met the strangest sight I have ever seen. The entire camp was here wearing identical smiles. Poseidon was crying his eyes out and Zeus looked like he just crapped himself. Which to say, uncomfortable.

What in my father's name just happened! I called out to all of them.

Zeus looked at me sadly.

We just killed the hero of Olympus.

A/N: I have no idea who Percy is going to end up with. Leave your recommendations in reviews.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N I do not own PJO or HOO**

**Zeus POV**

I looked down at the son of Hades sadly.

"We just killed the hero of Olympus"

"No, you tried to kill him" responded the Hades spawn.

"What are you talking about boy, I struck him with my master bolt, and only a force stronger than it could have saved him."

I turned to Hades, "he is dead, right?"

He concentrated for a second, then sat eve straighter.

"No, his spirit was pulled from his body before he died and took residence in another body. He is the same person, but he will look completely different now. He will still have his power, but his scent will be gone. This has never happened before, but it seems a god has done this."

I looked at Poseidon, "was this your doing brother?"

"No, I have no idea how this could have happened. If you do not have the power to do this, then no one does. No Olympian has more power than you, as much as I hate it, it is true. But I am happy that his spirit still lives. Maybe I can find him again someday."

"But he has been sentenced to death, he would only be killed again, right?"

I looked down at who spoke, it was my son, Darren.

I looked into his power and my earlier suspicions were confirmed. "Step forward son. I would like for you to tell the council what you did."

He visibly paled at this, "I do not know what you speak of father" he slowly mumbled

"It is simple I told him, tell your story since you got to camp Half-blood and Apollo will be able to tell if you are lying or leaving out anything major."

"Fine" he glared at me. "I was sent to camp by my master to rid the world of Perseus Jackson."

With that I flashed out the campers except for Darren. "This is now a war council I announced."

"Now who is your master?" Athena questioned.

"Wouldn't you like to know" he responded with a sneer.

"My master told me to cause Jackson despair so he causes destruction so you bumbling fools will order him to die. Minus this whole spirit mumbo jumbo, my mission was a complete success. Even if he still lives, he will never help you."

Apollo glared at him, "well how did you manage to make the whole camp become your puppets?"

"That was easy, I am a son of Zeus so I inherited a certain ability, care to explain father."

"You are not my son" I responded, "but the power he speaks of works something like this. The brain and nervous system run off electrical impulses. By making contact with another, me or my children can basically brainwash them. It is a power I have never used myself. I have already lifted the after effects from the camp, your daughter Athena got the worst of it. Her mind was partially broken, I have healed it, but she will need her friends now more than ever."

"Now for your punishment for what you have done scum. I sentence you to work for Poseidon in his household until we find Perseus again. I also am stripping you of all the power you inherited from me."

With that I shot him with a gold beam and took his powers. "You are dismissed." And I flashed him out.

Once he was gone, the entire throne room broke out in chaos

In the center of the room, a black portal appeared in the center of the room that quieted us all down. Everyone but Apollo pulled out our weapons and pointed them at the figure that stepped out. He was about 8ft tall. He had long slicked back hair and jeans with an untucked button down. His skin was the deepest black I have ever seen and his cloths were made of what looked like galaxies.

He came forward and introduced himself.

"I am Chaos"

**Chaos POV**

A small voice in the back of my head told me today was a good day to watch the goings on of Olympus. So I looked on the meeting that was just called and I couldn't believe what was going on. They were going to kill Perseus Jackson. I waited for a vote to be called, when one was, once again was in shock. Only Hestia and Apollo voted to let him live. I looked into their minds to see why.

Hestia had remembered his fatal flaw, loyalty. He could never intentionally hurt his friends. He was probably trying to protect his family and had gone a little overboard.

Apollo was a completely different story. He had recently gotten a prophecy that directly specified Percy needing to live to save Olympus. On top of that, he had seen what really happened from his chariot. That was Percy being betrayed by all those he had fought so hard to protect.

I watched as they killed his family, and then killed him. I was prepared to save him, but the voice of Apollo spoke in my head. Make him a new body, I will take spirit from his body and send it to the new body. I agreed with him, so I made a new body for the hero. When his spirit entered the body, I blessed him. He was the first hero I ever blessed, it felt good to know I was doing something to help others instead of sitting back and watching everything happen.

I watched the explanation of everything, but when the boys master was brought up, I knew who it was. My wayward son, Erebus.

I prepared to make my first appearance on Earth since I had created it. I stepped through my portal to find weapons pointed at my by everyone but Apollo, he must have known it was me.

"I am Chaos" I announced to them.

They started at me, completely dumbfounded.

"He is telling the truth" Apollo said to them.

"I am here to discuss what has just happened and the upcoming war."

"So you are the one who saved Percy" Poseidon asked

"No I replied, that was the most powerful god" I responded.

"I did nothing of the sort" Zeus yelled at me, "I wish I could do something like that, but I do not have the power.

"I never said it was you, I said the most powerful."

Zeus looked confused, "I am the most powerful." He said it more like a question that a statement.

"No you are not I told him, I will not say who it is to protect them. Perseus lives, I gave him a body and my blessing and sent him back to Earth. He has all his memories and an explanation from me about what happened, except for the part about the son of Zeus controlling people. He currently does not want to be found, but he once again thanks both Lady Hestia and Lord Apollo for voting to save him."

"Now on the topic of the war. The master the boy spoke of is my wayward son, Erebus. He wants to rule the Earth to spite me. I have decided to start an army of soldiers from all planets. I offered young Perseus a spot in my army, but he declined it. He wanted to disappear."

"When the time comes, I will send my army to help defeat Erebus, I believe Apollo has a prophecy for us?"

"Yes, and things are not looking good for us right now, but here it is." Apollo started spewing green smoke and recited the prophecy.

The bane of Gaia, so harshly betrayed

Will face a choice on who to save

One a friend from times past

The other his royality

For the world to be saved

He must forgive that who wronged him

And save the endurance of the hopeless goddess

Apollo promptly collapsed

Artemis rushed over to give some nectar

When he sat up, he looked at the gods, "This is the final prophecy. After it comes to pass, the Earth will either be destroyed, or go into eternal peace. The first line specifically said that Percy would be the hero of another prophecy. I sense this prophecy will not come to pass for some time though. We need to make the survivors of the wars partially immortal, like the hunters. That way you will have a fighting chance. The greatest heroes will be made minor gods of heroes and have time to train to become even better, hopefully by the time the final prophecy comes to pass, Percy will have forgiven you. Now go announce this to your children, Artemis, you can tell the hunters."

"You must find Percy. Everyone keep your eyes open for someone who has the same personality as him. It will be the only indicator it is him besides his powers. Artemis you are in charge of searching the Earth, Poseidon the seas, and Zues, the air. Hades, watch to see if he dies."

"Yes lord Chaos, we will do so at once. But couldn't you tell us what he looks like since you made his body?" Zeus asked me.

"I could, but where would the fun be in that. Now I must go form my army, we must be ready for the coming storm. Fare well."

Zeus looked out at the gods, "we have our orders, let's go."

**Percy POV (I know I know, finally)**

I woke up in a black room. I looked around and saw a strange looking man with a worried expression looking back at me. "Well it is good you are awake he told me. I am Chaos."

"Cool" I told him.

He started laughing and laughing. "Do you know who I am?" He asked, still laughing

"Chaos? You just told me." I was a little confused until a memory of a story Annabeth once told me. Chaos created the universe. "Crap!" I shouted at no one in particular. That chaos. I tried to get up to bow, but I could barely move. Then I remembered what happened. I was supposed to be dead. My family was dead. "What happened after I got hit?" I asked Chaos.

"Well that is complicated he told me. Lord Apollo separated your spirit from your body and told me to prepare a new body for you."

"WHAT?" I was confused until I looked in the mirror Chaos handed me. I had pale honey colored hair with streaks of a light brown. It was pretty short and a little curly. My skin was still tan, but my eyes had turned a deep shade of blue **(A/N like John from I am # four)**

"You still have your powers he told me and some new ones since I blessed you."

"You did what" I asked

"I blessed you. Gave you partial immortality like the hunters of Artemis. Along with a few other powers. You can stay here with me. I can teach you how to use your powers and I can also give you a position in the new army I am forming. You have inspired my young Perseus. I want to do more to help the universe."

"That is a kind offer" I told him, "but with everything that has happened recently, I want to be alone to collect my thoughts. I was betrayed completely by everyone I know."

"Not everyone I told him. I believe a Mr. DiAngelo and a Ms. Grace still deserve your trust, along with the 'dead'." he said the dead part with air quotes.

"You are right" I told him. "But I wish to return to Earth for now. I can train my new powers there."

"You will need a companion." He told me, "someone to keep you from becoming too caught up in your own thoughts."

"I will find someone I told him." And with that I was zapped down to Earth.

**Leo POV**

I was flying through the sky on Festus with Calypso. We were in the middle of making out when a lightning bolt fell from the sky and hit Fest straight in the head. BOOM. He exploded. Shrapnal flew straight at me, but Calypso threw herself in front of me like a human sheild. Next came a blast of Greek fire that had been Festus's heart. It formed a heat wave that cannoned me into the sky, still holding Calypso. I survived the heat wave, but the love of my life was not so lucky. I watched as Calypso burnt into nothingness in my arms.

"Goodbye" she whispered to me and vanished in a poof of gold dust. I was freefalling now, not caring if I lived or died. It was too much, Zeus just had to kill her. I quickly built a gliding device out of some scrap from my tool belt on instinct alone and glided down to Earth. Calypso would not want me to die for her. When I landed, I started to consider going back to Camp, but the memories would be more painful there. I decided to go back to what I know best, running away.

As I was walking, I saw a cloaked figure appear out of know where. I pulled out my sledge hammer and started to advance as stealthily as I could. It spun around and pulled of his hood. He had messy dirty blond hair and deep blue eyes full of sadness and of power. When he saw me the biggest smile spread across his face and he began to laugh.

"Leo?" He asked me. "I thought you were dead."

He hugged me and I think I felt some of my ribs break.

"Air" I gasped and he put me down. "Who are you I asked"

He looked confused for a second then realization crossed his face

"I forgot, I don't look the same, it's me, Percy"

That confused me. "If you are Percy, then you would know the name of my flying table" I demanded.

"Easy, Buford" he responded.

"The name of the person I love" I asked him

"Calypso" he responded with a hint of remorse

"The monster that attacked out ship in the Atlantic Ocean"

"Shrimpzilla" he told me with a grin

It really was Percy.

We traded stories and we both ended up crying into each other.

As we were crying, Apollo and Hestia appeared to us.

"We have an offer for you two they told us."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N I do not own PJO or HOO**

**The majority of reviews are saying someone in the hunt, so I have deceided to cross Annabeth off the list. Leave reviews for either Artemis, Thalia, or Zoe to end up with Percy.**

800 years later

**Artemis POV**

It has been 800 years since I was credited with finding Percy Jackson. He has a different scent and a different look, but his attitude is unmistakeable. I thought it would be as simple as looking for the only decent male on the Earth, but anyone even half-way decent that was a demigod male seemed to have just disappeared off the face of the Earth. Yes, more and more demigods were making it to camp, but all the males were arrogant and prideful. Percy could not act that way if he tried.

The only positive thing that has happened it the past 800 years was more and more girls were making it to the hunt. They just seemed to wander into our camp. Some even from states away. This is impossible, but when i check their memories, they have been edited. Someone is saving demigods all over America and I am certain it is Percy, I can never pin him down. As soon as a girl appears, I send out hunters in all directions, but never find a trace of who actually brought them. Tomorrow is August 18th. The day us Olympians have a yearly meeting about the location of Percy.

It usually goes something like this. Hades says he is not dead. Poseidon looks hopeful. I say I have seen no one with his personality. Poseidon starts to cry. Zeus tells everyone to keep looking and Apollo tells if it is time for the prophecy yet.

This year i was determined for that to be different. I turned myself into an eight year old and shrouded myself in mist to change myappearence and aura. I create a mist man with the help of Hecate to try and trick this demigod savior so I can capture him. This is the only lead I have to finding Percy, I hope it does not back fire on me.

I started the ruse. I was pretending to be beaten when the man came. He was wearing a golden cloak and holding a spear. He charged the mist man. His spear transformed into a mortal knife and he did the job quickly. A quick jab to the jugular, showing extreme reflexes and precision.

This has to be Percy I thought to myself.

When he approached me, I backed away, pretending to be scared.

"Don't hurt me" I begged, laughing to myself the whole time. This male was buying every second of my act.

"Don't worry" he told me in a soothing voice. "He can't hurt you anymore. I am going to take you to a place where you can be safe. First, will you let me heal your wounds?"

He spoke like he actually cared. I slowly nodded to him, but when he approached, i pulled out my hunting knives flipped over his head, and landed behind him with my knives at his throat.

I let my mist disguise fall off and the mist man fall apart. I tore the boy's hood off to reveal a 16 year old boy with light brown hair and the same colored eyes.

"Who are you?" I demanded

He let off a string of foul language at that would have caused any teacher to suspend him.

"Watch your tongue, I'll have it cut from your head**"(Shout out to whoever knows what song this is from first)**

"Sorry, sorry" he said sounding truly desperate. "Do I have the honor of knowing who has caught me at last?"

He made it sould like he was doing this alone and added sarcasism to the mix. It had to be Percy.

"Well then Mr. Jackson, I am surprised you forgot so quickly about the one you saved from under the sky." He seemed confused at that.

"I have no idea what you are talking about. I was simply asking for your name. I think I would remember someone who tries to kill me when I offer to help them."

"Fine then" I responded, a little hurt Percy had forgotten me. "I am lady Artemis, God of the hunt and eternal maiden."

His face paled considerably. "Well, I wouldn't want something as small and insignificant as me to take up the time of a great goddess." His voice sounded a mix of sarcasm and sincerity. Only Percy could talk like that.

"It's no trouble really, up on Olympus, we want to reward the person who is helping our children survive and reach the camp and hunt sakly."

"You don't have to." he told me. He was humble, all of my senses were screaming that this was Percy. "If you really want to reward me, you could let me go and tell no one."

"No" I responded, "All of Olympus will shower those who helped so many of our children with lavish gifts and maybe even receive the blessings from a few gods."

"Full immortality?" he asked, sounding hopeful.

Not Percy. Percy despised the idea of full immortality. This boy, whoever he really was, was not Percy.

"UGH" he groaned. "I messed up didn't I."

"Yes" I responded to him. "You are not the person I thought you were, but you have obviously been trained by someone to make it seem like you are, so I am bringing you to Olympus for questioning."

He smiled at me and said, "I wish I could, but duty calls." I was going to ask him what in the world he was talking about when the plant life around me went nuts. Vines, grass, flowers, bushes, grape vines, and trees sprang into the old house and pinned me down and held me there while he got up, dusted himself off, and walked out.

I thought that this was going to be all for nothing until I saw the symbol on his cloak.

It was the sun. The symbol of my halfwit younger brother.

**A/N**

**I know, I know. Too short. I needed a filler chaper to show Artemis finding out about Apollo's hunters. I also need at least two OCs. Maybe 3 or 4. It would be a great help to me if any of my fantastic readers could drop a review with the Oc's name, age, parentage, and special powers that would be a great help for later chapters. **

**Thanks all for the help, i am still a novice writer. -CenturionAfricanus**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N I don't own PJO or HOO **

**Artemis POV**

At the meeting the next, the usual routine started. Hades said Percy wasn't dead and Poseidon turned to me hopefully. Time to shake things up.

"I have not found Percy yet, but I do have a new lead that is very promising." I added that last part before Poseidon's face could fall again. Apollo twiched a little, maybe he knows what lead I am talking about.

"As we all know, about 700 years ago, More and more demigods started making it to camp and to the hunt safely, sometimes from far away. I started to investigate this closely. Yesterday I deiceded I had had enough. I set a trap for the mysterous savior. I made a fake man out of mist and also used the mist to block my aura. While the mist man was pretending to beat me, a man in a gold cloak came and 'saved' me."

Apollo had visably paled and was stiff as a board, so far, I was the only one to notice. I continued my story.

"He acted kind and when I revealed myself to him and held a knife to his throat to try and get info from him, he used sarcasm and humor as a reply. He sounded so much like Percy, UNTIL I said he could gain gain complete immortality, it seemed like he wanted that more than anything. Percy has turned that down more than once. He even acknowledged when he made a mistake in his charade. He was trained to seem like Percy, but he was not Percy. He used extremely powerful nature magic to escape me, but his cloak had a symbol on it. A sun."

Apollo looked so very uncomfortable right now, it was actually a little funny. He was visably sweating and looked paler than I had ever seen him. "Care to explain why you have a champion, maybe an army of them, going around saving people?"

He sighed. "Might as well come clean. Here is my champion.

He snapped his fingers and the boy from the previous night appeared. He looked around confused, then saw Apollo. He nodded and said something in a languague I vaguely recognized as French. Apollo nodded to him. He didn't take his hood off or bow to any gods, but Apollo and surprisingly Hestia.

"Why do you not bow to me first, I am lord of the gods!" my father shouted at him, causing the sky to thunder and darken.

"I bow to those I have respect for Sky Guy, not who ever is in charge." he cheekly responded.

That got the entire throne room, except Zeus, laughing. He looked like he wanted to give this demigod a fast pass to the underworld.

"Sky guy!" Aphrodite laughed "Classic, is this part of op 4?"

We all sobered up pretty quick at Aphrodite knowing that the rest of us did not know.

"What is op 4?" Athena questioned her.

"No clue." Aphrodite responded "All I know is the boy asked Apollo if he should use op 4 and Apollo nodded."

Cover drills, whatever my brother was doing, it was far bigger than just this one demigod.

**Apollo POV**

Curse Aphrodite and her big mouth, she could have kept her mouth shut for a little longer and I could have gotten this fool in front of me back to base to warn the others, now more secerts would have to be spilled before we could start damage control.

"What is op 4 dear brother?" my sister mocked me in a singsong voice.

"Before you respond son, you must swear to answer our questions truthfully." Zeus ordered me.

"I swear on the River Styx to answer your questions on this topic topic truthfully." Thunder boomed in the backround. I never had said I would answer them fully or at all though.

"Now what is op 4?" Zeus demanded.

"Op 4 is the the fourth op of 5 in covering our tracks. Op 1 is memory wipe. Op 2 is lie to keep my men hidden at all costs. Op 3 is to sell the one caught as Percy. Op 4 is the op where I sell the one caught as my champion to protect the others. Op 5 is to tell the truth."

"Others, what others?" of course my sister wanted to get all in this, she was showing me up and making me look bad. She never let a chance like this pass.

I flashed in all my others. "These others." I told her.

**Artemis POV**

There were about 26 other males, all standing in gold cloaks looking confused.

"Op 5" Apollo told them.

That seemed to make sense to them and they all lined up, bowed to Apollo and Hestia and started numbering off. 1-27. The one I had caught was 25

"Hestia is their other patron." My brother informed us. Hm. Both the gods who voted to keep Percy alive.

These demigods were interesting. They followed orders and knew codes in a heartbeat. They took their orders directly from Apollo, but he couldn't be directly involved with the day to day happenings of demigods. They had to have a demigod leader.

"Who is the leutenent brother?" I asked, using my singsong voice from earlier.

He let off some well choiced words, and flashed in another two of his "hunters"

One wore a red cloak and rode an automaton horse that looked a lot like the colchis bull. It had fire coming out of it's nostrils and it looked like the whole thing was superheated. It had a fairly large sledge hammers strapped to either side. The rider himself looked rather scrawny, but he probably had a fair amount of skill and muscle with the hammers to be a leutenent.

The other rode a white lion. He wore a black cloak and was armed with a sword and several throwing knives. The knives were imperial gold and I could see what his sword was made of. His lion was muscular and an almost translucent white except for it's mane. It's mane was shiny gold.

They didn't bow to anyone, or even dismount for that matter.

"Do you not bow to your own patrons?" Zeus questioned them.

"We bow to no one" the black cloaked one said.

"Not after what you did to us." the red one added.

"What can you possibly mean I asked them. We have never you before today.

"Maybe not now, but before we joined the Hunters of Fate, you knew us." the black one told us.

"Will you tell us who you were?" Hades questioned

"Our pasts are just that, the past. we won't let them haunt our future." The black cloaked one bluntly told us.

"What shall we call you?" Demeter asked them.

"Thorn" said the black cloaked one.

"Cal" said the red cloaked one.

"Thorn and Cal. Really, those are the best fake names you could think of." Athena mocked them.

"Those names represent the turning point in our lives. When everything changed." Cal responded.

"And they are vague, you don't know who we are or even have a clue." added Thorn

"If you two are the leutenents, is Apollo the commander?" I asked them

They looked at each other and started laughing and laughing.

"Sorry Apollo, the idea of you being the commander is just so funny that we will take whatever punishement he gives us." Cal said as he fell off his horse. At that, the entire group started laughing. Perfect, a group of people with the same humor as Percy. He could be any one of them.

"So who is the commander" I asked. Apollo gave one wave of his hand and a man in a silver cloak riding a golden saber-tooth tiger that was covered in battle scars appeared. The man wore all silver, he had no visable weaponry. He had broard shouldres and muscular arms. He was probably all strength when fighting, but slow and clumsy. He probably used and axe or club. When he looked up at the council I could feel the hate in his gaze. We must have truely wronged him for him to hate us with such strength.

**Commander POV**

I was flashed into the Olympian throne as I made my way back to the camp of my hunt. Op 5 I heard Apollo tell me in my head. I glanced back to see the entire hunt, my pack on the ground laughing as well as Cal. Thorn could barely stay on his lion.

"Up" I shouted at them. Everyone got up within a few seconds except for Cal. "Cal! Up before I give you chore duty for the rest of the month." He got up slowy and remounted, still shaking with laughter.

"Who are you?" asked Athena. I turned towards her.

"I am the commander of the Hunters of Fate." I calmly reply.

"I mean who are you under the hood?" she asks

"I know what you meant, I just chose not to answer the way you wanted me too. And don't even try to remove our cloaks by force, they are enchanted so only those who know who is under the cloak can remove them. You also cannot warp the shadows within the hoods to see us." I calmly told her, knowing what she was thinking.

"Is this the entirety of the Hunters of Fate?" asked Artemis.

"The entire active force of the hunt, yes. I would also prefer if you would call the pack, the Hunters of Fate is our formal name and we might become confused with your hunters Artemis."

"What do you mean active members?" questioned Zeus, "Are there more than those here?"

"We have shared enough of our secerets for now. Are we free to leave for our camp?" I asked, these annoying gods were getting on my nerves.

"May I see a list of the missions you are currently in the process of completeling? asked Zeus, "Then you are free to go."

"Ok" I gave him a notecard with out currently uncompleted missions. He took out a clip board and compared the notecard to a sheet on his board.

"Hmm. You can go under one condition. you have to have a trusted source watching you complete these missions to test if you are truly loyal to Olympus, if not, we will be forced to view you as traitors and attack you." He told me with iron grit in his voice.

"Fine" I growl back to him. "So who shall our chaperone be? Athena? Or are you going to babysit us to help your insercurities."

"You will be accompianed by the Hunters of Artemis for your missions. They are identical to the ones that the hunters have Pack Man."

At that name, the gods started laughing, except for Artemis. she just looked at Zeus like he had turned into Echidna or something. Why he was name calling was slightly confusing, but I figured one of my men had started it.

"You may call me Thame." I tell Zeus. He just glares at me.

"Well then Thame" he exagerated my name like it was an insult. "You have a day to pack your camp and reach the Hunters camp in Washington state park. So if there are no further questions, you are free to go."

As I was turning to leave I heard Poseidon call out from behind me.

"Do you know where Percy Jackson is?"

At last, the question of the day, I thought to myself.

"He retired to be a trainer of the Pack 300 years ago. He is at peace and wishes to be left alone. I shall tell him of your concren the next time I see him." Just as I had rehearsed with Cal and Thorn for all those years. I almost beleived the lie myself. they could never know the truth.

That I was Percy Jackson.

**A/N I still need 2 OCs for later chapters. Just need names, powers, parents, age, and appearence. Sorry about the longer update times. Roadtrips mean more writeing time, but no internet to post with. **

**Shoutout to **_**Demigodrunnertributes **_**for getting the song from the last chapter. Hail to the King by Avenged Sevenfold(great band)**

**Happy Reading-Centurion Africanus**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N I do not own PJO or HOO**

**I have been getting complaints about my dialoge writing. I suck with the formatting, I know that already. The thoughts will be italisized from here on out and speaking in quotes. Thanks for understanding.**

**Thorn POV**

As Percy, I mean Thame, told them the cover story about where Percy was, I was impressed. _He said it with such lack of emotion it sounded beleivable. No one would expect him to be Percy, everything about him was different. _

Poseidon looked at him with what appeared to be mixed emotions.

"I wish to see my son." He said it like a command more than a statement.

"I will respect his wishes Poseidon. If he wishes to be left alone, than he shall be left alone." Thame responded grittily.

"I do not care what he thinks. He is my son and I have not seen him for 800 years. You will take me to see him, or else." Poseidon said while gripping his trident firmly. He looked like he had purpose again after 800 years of slowly fading.

"No Poseidon, and there is nothing you can do to convince me otherwise. Percy served as a leutenent beside Cal for 500 years. He has my utmost respect and I will do this for him. Why you people ever betrayed him I will never understand." _Thame was seriosly pissed now. If I were Poseidon, I would have backed down immediatly, that's not quite what happened next though._

Poseidon leveled his spear at Thame, who was still on Star-his sabertooth- and fired a seawater blast the size of an oven and full of force. Star simply lept above it and thew shot missed by a mile. When Star landed, Thame was no longer on his back. He had lept off Star's back and kicked off the roof, spinning into a drop kick onto Poseidon's head.

Poseidon crumpled under the blow and was knocked out.

"If that will be all, are we free to go, or will I be forced to knock more people out?" Thame said this quietly , but the threat was not missed by any of the gods, they stiffened at suffering the same fate as Poseidon, one of the most powerful gods.

"Get out of my throne room." Zeus growled this, clearly a little intimidated. Lord Apollo raised his hand and sent us back to our camp in the swamps south of New Orleans.

**Artemis POV**

Once the pack of my dimwitted brother, I turned to my oh so thoughtful father and started my protests.

"WHY DID YOU VOLENTEER ME AND MY HUNTERS, WHO SPECIFICALLY STAY AWAY FROM BOYS, TO FOLLOW THOSE ARROGANT SOON-TO-BE-ANTELOPES! THEIR COMMANDER IS DISRESPECTFUL TO THE GODS IN ALL FORMS! HE WON'T EVEN TAKE A FATHER TO SEE HIS SON WHO HAS BEEN MISSING FOR SEVEREL HUNDRED YEARS! I REFUSE TO DO THIS, I AM GOING TO MY HUNTERS NOW AND GETTING OUT OF THE WASHINGTON STATE PARK."

I felt a hand on my shoulder as I was about flash out. It was my brother.

"YOU!" I started to shout at him. "THIS IS YOUR FAULT. VIF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU HIDING PERCY OR EVEN STARTING YOUR LITTLE "PACK" I WOULDN'T HAVE TO SPEND TIME AROUND IDIOTIC MALES WHILE WE CLEAN UP WHATEVER MESS THEY ARE GOING TO MAKE ON THEIR "MISSIONS" YOU ARE THE WORST BROTHER I COULD HAVE POSSIBLY HAD!

He just looked up at me and spoke a few simple words. "I swear on the River Styx that none of my pack will flirt with your hunters."

That shocked me. Apollo was willing to swear on the Styx for his pack.

"Do you really think that?" He asked like he already knew the answer. "They have kept themselves from all of the gods except for me and Hestia, their patrons. She is fully supportive of the pack and she would not be if they would hurt her family. On top of that, many of them have fought alongside Percy, those who have not have been trained by him personally and Percy not only teaches sword fighting, but he also tries to get the new recruits to not hate the gods. Many were betrayed or forgotten. He convinced them that us gods were the best option for rulers. He even managed to talk more than a few people from openly rebelling. He may not like us at all, but he would rejoin the pack if another war came. And on that note, my pack being discovered has started the next great prophecy. It will not happen right away, but the ball has started rolling."

I calmed down when Apollo told me about how Percy would join the fighting if he was needed and how he would train them. The part about the third prophecy scared me a little when the first two were so big and destructive.

"I'm sorry for flipping out at you Apollo, you aren't the worst brother ever. As for going with the pack, I will do so grudgeingly." The tension in the room dissapated when I spoke to Apollo and most gods relaxed when I said I would bring the hunt to follow the pack.

"Good daughter, now we must discuss other things regarding the hunt. Apollo and Hestia are both asked to leave us for now." Zeus looked happy with himself for getting me to go with his plan, but he was getting over confident, time to take him down another again.

Both Hestia and Apollo left and the discussion began.

**Athena POV**

I had been bursting with questions the entire time the pack had been present. I am the goddess of knowledge, yet these men are completely unknown to me, I know nothing besides what I had been told. When Poseidon had asked about Percy, I zoned out. I didn't like that sea scum. He wanted to propose to my daughter and even after he completed my tests, he wasn't worthy of Annabeth. I taught Darren how to use his powers to manipulte people so he could tear Perseus down from his false throne. I disliked the pack for saving him, but they were a big puzzle right now and I had to be the first to solve them.

Artemis screaming brought me out of my trance. There was a bit of sibling fighting then Lord Zeus sent Apollo and Hestia out so we could discuss the pack.

"We need to know the identy of the commander, Thame, and his leutenents, Cal and Thorn. The leutenents said they had past life shattering experiences connected to their names. They are probably the only ones who know the true identy of the commander. If we figure out one of the leutenents, we can get him to reveal the other and the commander." I kept a cool even tone to not show my excitement, but I can barely contain myself at solving another puzzle.

"Calm yourself daughter. Before we make plans, we must figure out what we have left to know. First, what did Thame mean when he said it was the entire active force? If Percy is a trainor, where are the training facilities. I agree with you about our biggest priority though daughter, who is the commander. He took out my brother in a matter of seconds. He is too powerful. After the coming war, I vote we have him killed."

My father has a way with words, he can convince others to do the wise thing after I mentally tell him what that is.

The vote went as follows, Hades, Hephestus, Hermes and Artemis voted for him to live.

Zeus, myself, Ares, Aphrodite, Hera, Demeter and Dionysis voted for him to die. Poseidon was still out and Apollo and Hestia would have vote unfairly.

"Another vote, if we find Perseus, we will make him a minor god, truly immortal. He has hidden from for 800 years and saved Olympus twice."

That was unexpected, my father has never offered immortality to any hero that was not his own son. I told him mentally that this was unwise, but he brushed me aside. I lost that vote 8-3 with only Ares and Dionysis voting with me to try and kill him again.

"So it is deicided then, Thame is to die and Perseus to be made immortal when found. Meeting adjourned." My father flashed out with that final remark. _Now I have to deal with the boy I had tried to kill forever if he is found. _I deicided to look into Thorn because he was a leutenent for less time than Cal, he would be more likely spill info, how to get to him. Hmmm...

**Thame POV**

When Apollo flashed us back to camp I ordered a full pack and to be ready to move in an hour. I pulled Cal and Thorn aside to talk to them.

"Send the royals out on routine mission 3. that should be enough time to complete the current mission list and get away from the nosy gods. Also, who got caught. If it isn't one of the royals, they are going to have dish duty for the next 5 years."

Cal was busy adjusting a bolt on Orcala's-his horse-neck. But Thorn looked at me seriously and nodded.

"It was 25 who got caught. So he is lucky then."

"Not really" I shot back, "He will have to answer to 27 on the mission, that will be worse."

Cal cracked up at this, "27 will tear him apart. He hates mission 3, he is basicly powerless the whole time.'

We all smiled at this. Thorn trodded back into camp, now mostly dissasembled, and called over 23-27. The 5 royals. He told them their mission and 27 threw a fit." I hopped off Star and he darted into the forest. He would be waiting for me in Washington. I saw Orcala and Necron-Thorn's lion- follow him into the forest. They came up behind me.

"Ready to go' Cal told me.

the pack formed a circle around me and I turned the ground into a portal, a new gift from Chaos, as we teleported to Washington.

**Thalia POV**

Lady Artemis came back from her mission to discover who the demigod helper who was dropping off all the new recruits. Why make a big deal out of a person or people who were helping us, they had nothing wrong that we knew of.

"What has that lazy playboy gotten himself into this time." My lady was mumbling that as well as severel other things as she told me she was heading to Olympus.

A few hours later when she returned, she called a meeting.

"I have some good and bad news she told us. I will start with the good. Percy has been found. Not directly, but we know he is alive and well.

I broke into my first real smile in the past 800 years.

"That hunt is now complete. But we have severel new problems. There has been a group of males called the hunters of Fate, or as they call themselves, the pack. They have been the ones saving demigods for the past 700 years and have existed for much longer than that right under the nose of every god." Artemis was calm when she said this, but I was slightly confused.

"but my lady, couldn't your brother see where ever they were, or you, when you rode your chariots across the sky?" I asked

"I could not see them because I have been with the hunt so often and my brother is the one who founded them along side Hestia. Much is unknown about them. So Zeus ha deceided to have them watched on their upcoming missions."

"What is so bad about someone having to watch a group of males and how does relate to Percy?" I ask

"This has to do with Percy because he was one of the two leutenents for 500 years and has now retired to train new recruits, it is a bad thing because WE were the ones assigned to watch them. Their missions are as follows

Slay hydra brood in Memphis, TN

Slay Koios in Vancouver

Track earthborn to discover who raised them out of Tartarus

Check Atlas

Foil Cyclops lair in Syracruse NY

I couldn't beleive it, it was the exact same as our mision plans.

"Those are our missions my lady." i said, shocked any group of males had the same danger analysis as us, or me to be specific.

"Yes they are Thalia, that is why Zeus deicided to make us babysit the low-life males. We were already going to be there, so why not accompany them. Another thing, they will be arriving by tomorrow, so we need to set some rules. Do not kill them unless they flirt with you or attempt to harm you in anyway. They are not to be pranked or messed with in anyway. Their commander is extremely powerful.'

"You mean Apollo my lady?" Pheobe asked.

"No, he is a demigod who helped found the pack. He calls himself Thame. Poseidon attacked him for not taking him to Percy and Thame knocked him out in a matter of seconds. It was frightning. His two leutenents are called Cal and Thorn. I assume they are also very powerful."

When my lady was done speaking, I saw figures quietly approaching behind her.

"Look out my lady!" I called as I drew my bow.

Lady Artemis turned and held up her arms, siganling us to stop and I saw the creatures clearly. The one on the left was a brilliant white with a flashy gold mane. It was big and powerful, yet still light on it's feet. The one on the right was an automaton horse. It was amde of plates of celestial bronze and breathing fire. It looked like it it was superheated. It had a sheath with a hammer on either side of it's body. The last and clearly was a golden saber-tooth tiger. It had giant teeth and was covered it battle scars that glowed silver in the moon light. It was a clear battle vetran and looked at us like it was looking for weaknesses.

"Those are the mounts of the commander and his leutenents, I do not think they would take kindly to us killing them."

"If you even could." said a voice from behind the 3 animals.

It was a boy in all sliver robes followed by 2 more in red and black respectivly. About another 20 were behind them in all gold cloaks.

"Thame.' Artemis said to him in shock. "I thought you would not be here until tomorrow or at least later today. How did you get so quickly?"

The silver cloaked man gave a cold laugh at that while he pet the sabertooth. "We want to be here less than you want us to Artemis. We want this to be quick and over with so we can go back to being left alone. As for the how, Percy charged several stone with the power of mass teleportation for our use if needed."

At the mention of Percy I butted into the conversation. "You know where Percy is? how did he get the ability to teleport himself, muchless others? Who are you unnder the hood, all of you?" I rapid fired the questions and all I got back was a laugh.

**Thame POV**

I laughed to Thalia spiting out question after question. She was actualy worried about me, who would have thought it.

"Yes I know where Percy is. He is at our training facility and wishes to be left alone. Poseidon already tried by force to take him to see Percy and it did not work so well for him. Second, we will show no one who we are under our hoods unless nessecary or Apollo and Hestia order it. Even then, me and my leutenents will remain hooded. Third, Percy was blessed by Chaos after he was given a new body, the gods knew that fact and I am surprised that Artemis did not share it with you." I answered.

Artemis turned pink and mumbled something about the river Styx.

_Typical, Zeus did not want people knowing there was someone more powerful than him._

"Well if that is all the questions, then we will go set up our camp. We will see you in the morning to begin travel to SanFrancisco to see Atlas.

I turned, hopped on Star, and led my pack to a nearby clearing. I raised my hand and created the wigwam set we usually use. I went to my private cabin near Cal's and Thorn's and fell asleep. No matter how long a demigod lived, the dreams would still come.

~~Dream/Flashback~~

_Me and Leo were running through a forest in eastern Canada while tracking a rather large group of hellhounds. When we got to the clearing they were in, they had surronded a single demigod who wore all black. He was weakly waving a sword around, but he was spent. I doubted he could hold them off much longer. Me and Leo jumped into battleand made quick work of the hell hounds. When we were walking out, I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was the demigod the hellhounds were chasing. _

_"Damn it!" he swore loudly, he seemed more upset than hurt. "I wanted those hounds to kill me so I could find out what is wrong with death. My friend was supposed to die, but some great force saved him. I want to find out who that was so I can find him._

_I turned to face the only person I knew it could be. Nico DiAngelo_

_When he saw me, his face lit up. _

_"PERCY! What happened to you, don't leave out any detail, it has been 26 years. You haven't aged at all. Who gave you partial of full immortality."_

_I told him my story. I told him about Apollo saving my life and finding Leo in the woods with a crashed Festus and Calypso dead. About Apollo recruiting us to his hunters called the Hunters of Fate. I had him start calling it the pack informally. Me and Leo started at the bottom, monster removal and had since moved to demigod saving. Which was killing monster in areas where there was a large number of demigods. We were currently on the elite team, lowest level. He grinned at me and asked one simple question._

_"When can I start"_

_~~End Dream/Flashback~~_

I woke in the morning just as the sun rose. I walked to the main wigwam to see what the night hunters had caught for breakfast. We got severel rabbits, a large number of fruits, and a large buck. A decent job.

I quickly cooked breakfast and had it ready and at the tables by the time pack members wandered in. The night gaurd/hunt members last and most sluggishly. We quickly sacrificed some food to Hestia and Apollo aqnd wolfed down our food. I assigned the chores for the day and went down to the stream for my powers training. I worked first with water, then earth seeing both came naturally to me. I then worked hard for a while with air and fire, I felt I was improving at both. With that done, I went back to camp to start the clean up. The camp was packed up and no traces were left by 9:30 am.

I walked down to the hunters camp and found complete disarray. Girls were running around every which way. Artemis was yelling something at a few hunters about arrows and Thalia was hustling several hunters on packing their tents. It took about 10 minutes for any of them to notice me. Artemis looked up for a second to see me patiently waiting. By then the entire pack was waiting behind me sniggering silently about how unorganized the hunt was.

"Thame! we weren't expecting you until later."

"It is already quater to 10, we should leave by 10 if we wish to reach Vancouver by nightfall. That will give us a night to form a plan to attack Koios."

"What is this 'us' you speak of boy, we are here to watch you do your work and nothing else. Also, pushing your men to reach Vancouver by nightfall is cruel. No way can anyone go that fast on foot."

"I know they can make it Artemis. I plan on leaving Cal and thorn in charge while Star and I go to check on Atlas."

"WHAT! Atlas is a dangerous foe and Ladon is also there. How can you have any hope of beating them if Atlas some how broke free. And on top of that, Hunters are supposed to accompany you on your missions. So you WILL come with us to Vancouver and NOT to face a titsn and an unbeatable monster alone."

"YOU CANNOT TELL ME WHAT TO DO GOD" I roared back to her. "This is my pack, not yours. I deceide how it runs, not you. Do you see me telling the hunters what to do? I have given you respect and curtosy. I would like a little in return. If we all were normal hunters, then we would be equals, but since you are a god, you think you and your hunters are better than us. You have yet to see us fight. hold your judgement until then." I was really pissed. I don't know how Thalia dealt with Artemis all the time.

"Fine" she responded, "but I will accompany you to Mount Tam. As you are leaving your leutenents in charge, Thalia will be in charge while I am gone."

"Meet you there" I told her and took off on Star. When we were far enough away, then I opened a portal right to where Atlas was supposed to be holding the sky up.

**A/N I got the OCs finished up thanks to another I met while on vacation. I also deceided to make this story Thalico, Caleo, and Pertemis**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N I do not own PJO or HOO**

**Quick word to my amazing fans. **

**Wade98-Percy had so many life changing moments, i couldn't pick just one. I finally picked Thame because it rhymed with Flame and the patrons of the hunt both have fire powers. Also, an upcoming chapter will show how Calypso is coming back. I promise to make it interesting. **

**to guest, I have a plan for Annabeth, she is not out of the story yet. **

**27 POV**

When we get back from our mission, the others better be done with the missions and the hunters better be gone when we get back, 24 is getting fidgety. We are going to throw the biggest party regardless of if the hunters are there or not. Underground missions are the worst.

**Thalia POV**

After Thame took off on his sabertooth he called Star for some reason, I called my wolf and had her grow to riding size and rode next to Cal and Thorn for a while. Our rides were galloping slowly, but the troops behind us were at full sprint. My lady's hunters were falling behind considerably. I siganled Cal and Thorn to let everyone take a break, Thorn grunted and spun around to signal the pack to stop.

The only hunter who had kept pace with the pack Pheobe, and she looked whipped. I took the rest of the hunt 10 minutes to catch up.

I turned to Cal and Thorn, but they were adressing the pack.

"Good work men, we are almost at the Canadian border. We should reach a good campsite by night fall. Vancouver will be a quick run from there." Thorn spoke without emotion

As he was speaking, Cal was getting fidegity, he must be seriously ADHD. As Thorn continued, he made a gesture to the woods and his sleeve fell up to his elbow. His arm had a large scar running across it. It ran from his elbow to his wrist and was jagged, like he had been tortured.

When we got going again a half hour later, I pulled up next to Thorn and asked, "How did you get that scar on your arm?

His entire body stiffened as well as his lion. They took off into the forest at insane speeds.

"whew" whisled Cal, "The only button you could push for him and Necron, smooth. He will be waiting for us back at the campsite."

"What happened to him anyway?" I asked, "What could make him so afraid?"

"Not afraid, he did not want to trigger a flashback." Cal responded

"A flashback of what?" I asked

"About 200 years ago he got a mission. A search and rescue mission."

"What could be so bad about that?" I was curious. My lady had told me to get as much information I could out of these boys while was with them.

"He had to rescue an innocent demigod who was thrown into Tartarus." Cal said grimly.

Artemis POV

After Thame bounded off on Star, I told Thalia to try and get some more info off the leutenents. Then I flashed to Mount Tam.

When I got there, Thame was waiting for me.

"How did you get here so fast?" I questioned "Shadow travel? Another portal from Percy?"

"We just ran very fast." he responded while scratching Star behind the ears.

"But that does not matter right now. Look where Atlas should be." he added

Where Atlas should have been was a giant. He had red skin and light brown hair.

"Help me" he said in a very weak voice.

Thame and Star stared at the giant, they seemed like they recognized him.

I took a knife and started to question him.

"Who are you and how did you get here to replace Atlas?"

" My name is Damasen, the giant born to oppose Ares. I was in Tartarus for the entire second giant war. But I still played my part. As for why I am here, my oh so caring father deceided to give another punishment for helping them escape so he took me out of the river Archeraron, the river of pain, and sent me up through the ground to replace Atlas. this happened about a week ago." He said this with much pain in his voice. He seemed ready to help us

"You said you played your part, then mentioned helping someone escape? What happened then?" I asked, this giant might not be evil, not to be trusted, but maybe not evil.

"I will start my story at the beginning. I was made to oppose ares. Ares is war like, so I am peaceful. I became a shepard and did not fight the gods in the first war. When a drakon attacked and killed a friend of mine, Hunted and killed it by shoving a tree through it's head. That was the final insult for my parents. they cast me into Tartarus for all eternity. I was forced to kill the same drakon the same way every day. I lost hope. I slowly became trapped in despair.

That was when they came. Bob, or Iepatus**(spelling?) **brought them to me. One had been brought to the brink of death by the arii, the curses. The other was in better shape, but not much. I healed the boy and the girl told me their story. I was ready to let them leave, but the girl gave me something I had not had in many years. Hope. I thought about what they said for a time. So I changed my own fate. I captured and rode the drakon I had been trapped in for thousands of years. I made it to the doors of death to escape, but found the same same two demigods and Bob facing a fight they could never win alone. Tartarus, my father. I charged him and battled my father until the Doors of Death vanished, taking the demigods back to the surface. Leaving me and Bob for our punishment.

We went through many tortures to terrible to describe. 200 years ago another demigod was thrown into torture with us. A little while after, a demigod in a black cloak came and recued him. He tried to save me and Bob as well. But doing so got him captured as well. He was tortured for hours on end. His hood never came down though. He managed to escape with the demigod and gave Bob and I the keys to our cells. The problem was the keys only worked for Bob's chains. When his chains fell off im, he dissolved into thin air. His spirit was called to inheirit a new form.

I was tortured for many years after for not telling them how they escaped. Eventually, my father deceided to give me a new punishment. He brought me up to Earth and used me to free Atlas. I have remained here, on the brink of freedom, but even further trapped than I have been before."

"That is my story Artemis."

"Who are the two demigods that you saved from Tartarus at the doors? I asked.

"Their names are not as famous as their story. They were the ones who sent all my brothers back down to me. They defeated the Titans when they rose for the second time. They were the second and third people to survive Tartarus. They were Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase."

I gasped, Percy and Annabeth had told us their story, but had never included a giant of titan helping them escape.

"How do I know if you are telling the truth, Percy told us his story, but you were never included in it." I told him, turning to leave to find Atlas.

"He speaks the truth." Thame was speaking this time. "It took me 200 years, but I got Percy to tell me what really happened in Tartarus. It matches exactally with what Damasen said. Whe we find Atlas, we will bring him here to free you Damasen."

he said the last part directly to the giant and I was shocked. He was willing to free a giant. He had a good story, but giants were evil by nature.

"Thank you." Damasen had started to cry. "I can return to my flock, I know things have changed, but I am done with fighting. I just want peace."

Thame nodded to him and got on Star.

"We will be back to free you Damasen" he said and Star and him vanished into the woods in the distrance.

I glared at Damasen, but flashed myself back to the hunt.

Thorn POV

When Thalia mentioned my, scar I started to remember things. Necron did too. I got us out of there as fast as I could. We shadow traveled right to our choosen campsite, set up my emergency tent, and collasped inside and that gave way to a flashback.

~~Flashback~~

_Thame had given me a mission to save a demigod who had been trapped in Tartarus since birth. He was another royal, or a forbidden child that the gods had tried to kill. The monsters had raised him to hate Olympus, but when a Giant had gotten holkd of him and learned his parentage, the he was subjected to torture. _

_When I got to Tartarus, it was exactaly as I remembered it. A demigod killing machine. I started my journey theough the abyss until I reached the torture center of Tartarus. I snuck inside quietly and found the prison. I got inside easily, it built to not let anyone out, not keep others from coming in. I stole a copy of building plans and prisoner detail list off a cyclops, I saw 3 names besides the one I was looking for that shocked me. Iepatus, Damasen, and my sister, Bianca. _

~~End Flashback~~

I woke when I heard Star and Thame return. I exited my tent and watched him set up our cabins.

He told me about what had happened on Mount Tam and I nodded, I had a chance to make it up to Damasen. He didn't ask me what had happened to me, he knew already. Going to Tartarus once is hard. Making it out twice was near impossible.

By the time the rest of the pack and Cal got to camp dinner was ready. The Hunters passed our camp looking enviously at our venision steaks and forest salad. Any of us could have summoned food using the blessing of Hestia, but going out and doing it by hand made it taste better for some reason.

"You are welcome to eat with us." Thame said this to Artemis, but she only glared at him and moved the hunters camp farther away from us. She must have still been upset about Atlas escaping and Thame promising to set a giant free. Gods could be so blind sometimes.

We ate our dinner as usual and Thame anounced the Atlas was free to our men. Many groaned, others looked excited that we had a new powerful target. Later that evening Cal, Thame and I went over to the hunters camp to discuss plans for attacking Koios and finding Atlas.

Artemis was announcing Atlas was free to the hunters. Thalia was the only one who had enough sense to ask who was now holding up the sky. _Smart, beautiful Thalia. Whoa, where did that come from. I had to get myself to stop thinking like that. she was a hunter and has shown no sign of wanting to leave them. She probably didn't even remember me after I went missing and was declared dead by my father 774 years ago. _

"A giant is holding up the sky now my leutenent. The giant in question has made up some story that he was put there as punishment for saving demigods and that he is peaceful and would not hurt us. He has Thame fooled and has convinced Thame to set him free. If the giant is set free, I will need all of your help to kill it." Artemis answered Thalia with much hate in her voice."

"That will not happen Artemis. He is innocent on all charges. He did not choose who his parents were or that he would be a giant. You shall not harm him." Thame had stepped out of the shadows and Cal and I followed him.

**Thalia POV**

"You shall not harm him." Thame seemed pissed as he stepped out of the shadows. Cal and Thorn followed. Thorn must have been tough. He had to relive part of Tartarus and he was already back on his feet. He had my respect.

He reminded me of someone else. The only person who tempted me to leave the hunt. But he was gone now and has been dead for a very long time, 774 years. I missed Nico, I missed him every day. But I could not think like that. I am a hunter and he is gone forever.

"Come with me leutenent, Thame, Cal, and Thorn." My lady called us over to her tent for planning.

"My scouts have reported to me that both Atlas and Koios are in an abandoned warehouse in the outskirts of the city. They have a rather large force of hellhounds and venti. They are planning to attack Aeolus when he passes over them."

Thame said this all calmly, but I was panicing. Two titans, a muscle and a brain, working together to take a moving near impossible to track fortress.

"Who are your scouts?" quetioned my lady.

"Necron, Orcala, and Star are our scouts." Thame said this like it was not a big deal.

"How are we going to kill the Venti?" I asked him, "They will sense our attacks and only children of Zeus can be certain to hit them. I am the only child of Zeus in the hunt and I do not think there are many in your pack."

"We have one child of Zeus, but he is one of the Royals. They are on a seperate mission right now. I am going to call them back from their mission so they can help us. But I will give you this warning. Whenever a group returns from a sucessful mission. The leutenents and I leave for a night so the pack can celebrate without concquences from us. They will be loud and out of control. I encourage you to move to a different campsite while they are celebrating."

"Who are the Royals?" I asked, wondering who my brother was.

"The Royals are forbidden demigods. They have been hunted by the gods their whole lives. They are too powerful so the gods tried to have them killed. One was thrown into Tartarus when he was 2 years old by a god who did not want them to exist. I did not want to risk their safty, so I sent them on an indefinetly long mission. But they are needed, so they will come."

"Why is my brother being hunted?" I asked.

"The gods had faith in him so they tried to bend him so he could be the child of the third great prophecy. They ended up sending him on a suicide mission, his entire team was killed except one. When Zeus saw his son had failed, he tried to kill him. His son absorbed the bolt and became incredibly powerful. He was hunted for having the power of the master bolt within him."

Artemis turned to ham and asked, "Which god threw an innocent baby into Tartarus? I want to have a word with them."

Thame looked at her coldly. "That would be YOU Artemis. He spent 15 years there before Thorn found him and brought him out."

Thorn shuddered at the last part. I could not beleive that my lady had thrown a baby into Tartarus, it was probably someone else, but when I looked at my lady, she had turned deathly pale and quickly got up and left.

**Artemis POV**

I had known the answer to my question before I asked it. How could he be alive. My biggest mistake has come back to haunt me. My son was coming, probably full of vengence.

**Thame POV**

After Artemis left, we all quickly discussed tomorrow's attack. Artemis would handle Atlas while I attacked Koios. Thalia would lead the attack on the veti with 27 and Thorn and Cal would lead the groud forces and Phoebe would head the archers.

I went back to camp and found the Royals had arrived. 


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N I don't own PJO or HOO**

**24 POV**

When we got back to camp, I went to spy on the hunter's camp. My mother among them. She had thrown me into Tartarus when I was only 2. She had not even named me. She had kept me hidden until I could walk and talk, then she threw me into the pit. She had not even named me. I had given myself a name in the pit when I was five.

Dominic. I gave myself that name after I killed a drakon single handedly without a weapon. My mother had probably forgotten I existed. She only kept me when she could be sure I would not humiliate her, when I could walk and talk, she got rid of me. The gods were monsters, they also went to Tartarus to reform, no matter how hard they tried to deny it.

**27 POV**

I was a little excited to be back from cave checking. I couldn't use any of my powers there. I gave 25 a real hard time for getting himself caught and getting us stuck on routine cave work.

When Thame came back and told us the plan, there were mixed reactions. 24 was surprised that his mother even remembered him. I was happy I would get to work with my sister. 26 was happy that he would get to fight, peaceful missions aren't exactly his strong suit. 23 was upset by the Titans plans and was ready to fight. 25 just wanted to stay away from the hunters because he was still embarrassed about getting caught.

**Artemis POV**

The next morning I came back to the camp after I came up with a solution for how to deal with my son. He was a child of mind like what Athena does to stay a maiden so that was not the problem. His father was the real problem. I needed to find my son, wait I realized, I hadn't even given him a name. _This was going to be so hard to explain to him._

I noticed there were a few more pack members around now than before. _One of them is my son, now I just need to find him._

We all stealthily advanced towards with the pack's son of Zeus and Thalia keeping an eye out for venti in the sky. Thame, Cal, and Thorn were all riding their companions.

When we got to the warehouse, all Hades broke loose. Venti came pouring out of the sky and the boy, 27 as the pack members called him, and Thalia were fighting for their lives. A few venti came at us, but another pack member who was the size of a child was somehow controlling the air inside them making them explode. He was doing great until a hellhound came up behind him and he lost his concentration.

The hellhounds came from all sides except from out of the ware house. My hunters and the pack leapt forth and returned charge. Thame and I had not yet engaged attackers as we were saving our strength for the titans. Cal and Thorn were circling us and beating off monsters that tried to attack us. Everything was going well until the Warehouse burst open and Koios and Atlas came out in full battle armor.

The monsters cleared a path for them and Koios began to speak.

"I knew you would be coming to me Artemis. I am the grandfather of Apollo and you Artemis. Leto is my daughter. I am the original prophecy giver. I know your every move before you strike. So why fight and die. Join us in our glorious cause." He was the most overconfident male I have ever seen. And Atlas was standing next to him.

"I shall be your opponent Koios." Thame said to him. He turned to Thame and Koios scrunched his face.

"I cannot see your past, present, or future. How are you hidden from my sight? I am the father of fate and prophecy!" He looked deeply confused. "There was only one other hero who was hidden from me. The man who wrote his own fate. Hector, prince of Troy."

Thame laughed at this. "His spirit is within me. He was my past life. I also write my own future Koios. I AM THE BREAKER OF FATE AND PROPHECY!'

With those words, he summoned a mop and charged Koios. Wait, WHAT?

His mop turned into a spear as he attacked Koios and stabbed him in the gut. Koios drew his axe and swung back.

When the monsters and my hunters came out of shock we all charged.

**Thame POV**

It was true. Apollo had revealed to me that Hector was my past life and he was supposed to lead Troy to victory over the Greeks. But he chose to fight Achilles to try and save his brother who he knew was not good at fighting. He changed his fate, and the course of history.

Back to Koios. He was swinging with a delicate grace, waiting for me to strike again and ichor poured out of his stomach. I leveled my spear and swung it at his left thigh. He lept back and swung his axe, trying to decapitate me. I slid under his axe and jabbed him close up with the butt of my spear. He roared in anger and hit me back.

"That all you got Santa" I taunted him.

He roared again and charged, holding his axe over his head for a downward swing. I pulled on the invisible string that ran down my spear and bent it into a bow. The arrows magically appeared and I shot three into his chest and right arm before rolling off to the left.

His armor was covered in ichor and he had yet to hit me. I was about to finish him when I heard Artemis scream.

**Artemis POV**

"I AM THE BREAKER OF FATE AND PROPHECY!"

What in the world did that mean, Thame was going to have some serious explaining to do when we finished this mission.

He charged Koios and I turned to face Atlas. I stated by using my bow to try and hit the chinks in his armor. He knocked the arrows aside with his spear.

"What's wrong Atlas, cat got your tongue?" I tried to taunt him into doing a foolish attack, but he shook his head and pointed at a necklace he was wearing. It was his tongue.

_I am a hunter_ I thought this when I saw his live tongue squirming on a metal chain. _Hunters do not puke on their prey. _

He swung his spear at me and knocked me off my feet, leaving a large bleeding gash in my arm. He kept swinging his spear and I was barely able to deflect his blows with my knives. _When he wasn't boasting or getting tricked into being angry, he was actually a lethal fighter._

I should have known better than to get lost in thought because I did not notice him spin around and thrust the spear at me. I tried to dodge, but it stabbed me right through the stomach. I gave out an involuntary scream of pain.

**Thalia POV**

My lady and Thame charged in to fight the titans after Thame said some fancy crap. I wasn't really paying attention to them, I was focusing on the hundreds of venti and how I was going to be able to kill them all. Some arrows would take them by surprise and a few disintegrated, but it was down to me and my half-brother, 27, to take out the bulk of them.

I shot a lightning bolt at them and managed to take about 10 out. _Damn this is going to take forever, and I don't know how many of those I have left. _I fired off about 5 more bolts before I was too exhausted to throw another one.

All of them began to advance on me when a blue lightning bolt hit the first one, and arced to hit most of the venti. I looked over to where the bolt had come from and it was 27 who shot it. _Of course, who else would it have been? _He charged back into battle when I heard Lady Artemis scream, with Atlas sticking a spear in her stomach. 

**Thame POV**

When I saw Artemis with a spear sticking out of her stomach, I groaned, once again, I had to save one of the gods from opponent they were perfectly capable of beating. I charged Atlas and lobbed his head off from behind. I then turned and threw my spear at Koios at it went right through his heart. Both Atlas and Koios faded into golden dust.

I called 24 over to heal Artemis, his nature magic would be best to heal her, no matter how awkward it could get. I rallied the pack around them and the remaining monsters were quickly killed.

I walked slowly over to Lady Artemis to see how bad the damage was. 24 had the wounded closed and was working on the wound on her arm. Once it was closed, the Hunters pushed him away from her.

"I can use one of Percy's teleportation stones to get us back to camp." I suggested to Thalia.

"Sure, we need to get her to safety fast." She replied to me

I pretended to take a stone of my pocket and pretended to throw it at the ground. Then I opened a portal and we all fell through it. We went back to our camp to check for injuries.

5, 16, and 25 all had minor injuries. 24 was exhausted from healing Artemis, and a few of the hunters were hurt. I had Thorn tell Thalia about the party that was going to take place and went to talk to 24.

"You ok" I asked him

"Did it really have to be me to heal her, we have people whose job description is healer. I know you want me to forgive her, but she threw me, an innocent 2 year old, into Tartarus because she was worried about her reputation." he spat back at me.

"Well you did a good job healing her." I told him. "You are welcome to come back to mirage with Cal, Thorn and I to avoid the party, I know you do not like them."

"That would be most welcome, thank you Thame." He answered

**Thalia POV**

I was handing out ambrosia to those injured when Thorn came over to me

"A few of our men came back from a successful mission before the battle, so I party is going to be held to reward their success. Cal, Thame and I will not be there so they can let loose. Thame is a stickler for rules. It will be loud and bright, Thame suggests you move to a farther campsite, so you can sleep better. Lady Artemis had been given this information, but she is not currently in a state to be leading, so Thame believed the information would be useful to you." he informed me

I nodded, then I caught a whiff of his breath. It was the worst smell EVER, like a thousand zombies.

"UGH, what is wrong with your breath, did you eat a zombie or something." I complained to him.

He took a quick whiff of his own breath and started gagging. "I guess I really do have death breath." he said jokingly.

_Death breath, did he say death breath. Only one person had that name. Nico_. He was supposed to be dead. He had died to a pack of hellhounds while searching for Percy all those years ago. _Could he have survived as well? He could have faked his death because he found Percy and wanted to join him? _

I walked back to the hunter's camp thinking only one thing,

My Nico might be alive.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N I don't own PJO or HOO**

**To **_**A Wise Seaweed Brain**_**\- comment the plot is stale after reading only the first chapter is kinda stupid. Read through everything posted before judging. **

**I am once again changing the pairing, I know it is getting annoying, but I am really not sure who Percy should end up with. Leave reviews with ideas. **

**Also, post time will be a little more spread out due to my teachers all deciding to assign extra work all at once. Thanks for understanding**

**Nico POV**

Thalia stumbled/ran back to the hunt and I wondered if my breath was really that bad. _I only called myself death breath, nothing bi... SHIT! Death breath was my old nickname_. Thame is gonna KILL me when he finds out, and he always does.

**Thame POV**

I watched Thorn tell Thalia about the party and my blood ran cold when I heard Nico call himself death breath. _That idiot. I thought Cal or maybe 27 would be the first to reveal themselves, but I thought Nico was going to keep his secret for as long as possible, now he was the first dropping hints. I would need to talk to him later. _

I collected 24, Cal and Thorn, Cal pouting he had to miss another perfectly good party. I teleported us back to Mirage and we all headed back to our apartments.

**Cal POV**

Let me explain Mirage for a bit. It was the home base/city for retired members. It was only visible by day and it was in the middle of Death Valley so anyone who might see would pass it off as just that, a Mirage. It was invisible by night so Artemis could never see it. Each fighter had their own apartment while active and there are a few blocks of houses for retired hunters who wanted to raise a family. Usually people didn't want to retire until they found a wife. I was the same.

My entire room is covered in drawings, paintings, sculptures and other art all featuring Calypso. I still remember her dying in my arms. She was a titan so she should have reformed by now unless someone was keeping her captive. Orcala was back in his stable out back, next to the stable for Necron. Thame kept Star with him all the time.

I kept my hammers though. I had gotten Lord Apollo to take me back to Ogygia after I became a lieutenant. I took a large amount of crystal and stayed there until I had crafted my hammers. The had leather wrapped around the handles as grips. They were dark blue instead of their usual light crystal blue. On the face of each one, I had spent weeks carving Calypso's face into them. Whenever I hit a monster with them, they would have her face stamped on them before they died. They crystal seemed to be unbreakable and they could kill monsters no problem. So I kept using them.

I fell back on my bed thinking about all the good times I could have had with Calypso. If only.

"I will get you back my love, I already died for you once, and I would do it again. I will never give up until I find you. I swear on the river Styx." I said this to no one in particular for the millionth time. I stared at all her pictures all around me, but nothing could replace the real thing.

**Thame POV**

Cal went off to his room/living shrine to Calypso like he always does. He really needs to find her. It was driving me crazy to see him so depressed all the time. Dominic went to the forest at the edge of the city park to set up his tent. He was so much like his mother no matter how hard he tried to deny it. I always wondered who the father was, but only Artemis knew that. Thorn hurried down to his room in the basement of the building.

I went to my cabin that I used as my house. It was exactly like Montauk, minus the beach. The inside smelled like the ocean and I had pictures of my mother and I at Montauk hung up all over the place. They were enchanted to disappear when someone who didn't know who I was came into my cabin, to protect my identity.

Apollo had told me the real story of what had happened and that no one was to blame was Darren and whoever had sent him. I still refused to go back. When they killed me, I realized that they were nowhere close to good rulers. They were terrible in fact. But compared to what would happen if the titans or Giants ruled instead, they looked like level headed, fair rulers.

Star and I walked back to my room in the back of the cabin and Star turned into his other form, a silver skeletal kitten. Small Bob blessed by big Bob himself. I got Bob's spear as well, it was the only weapon I ever used anymore unless I had to use any of my other ones. I also had:

A cross bow with auto loading golden arrows

Riptide

Stygian iron throwing knives

an imperial gold hunting knives

Atlantean steel trident

The last one was more honorary to my father than something I ever used. I could summon my spear-Sweep- as I pleased. Riptide was always in my pocket in pen form. The cross bow and hunting knives I kept in my room unless I knew I would need them. I kept the throwing knives on my belt and the trident could turn into a ring that turned back into a trident when I took it off. I lay back on my bed with Star next to me-still in small bob form-and drifted off to sleep.

**Thalia POV**

I made my way back to my hunters and told them we had to move camp because the pack planned on having a success party.

"Phht" Phoebe laughed "Like they know how to party. They all act like they have sticks shoved up their asses. Their idea of a party is probably fine dining in business casual. We have no need to move. Let Milady rest."

"If you say so" I told the arrogant daughter of Ares. "But you take the blame for us not moving if they do turn out to be noisy."

"Deal" She told me. We headed off to our tents.

** Time skip, a few hours past dark, about 11pm**

I woke to a HUGE explosion coming from the pack's camp. It was loud enough to wake the dead and then some residents of Tartarus. The entire area was then flooded in golden light like a miniature sun was now over the forest, which when I got out of my camp, I realized there was.

Most of the hunt came out of their tents grumbling and complaining about the light. Then the music started. It was WAAAY too loud from where we were standing. It felt like my eardrums wanted to implode from the constant assault of sound they was receiving. Only Milady and Phoebe were still asleep.

That changed in a few minutes when more fireworks started going off. At first they were normal, then became more and more advanced. Some were taking the shapes of animals while others were acting out scenes from the battle that was just fought.

Phoebe had come stumbling out of her tent waving her bow around like a club. Milady slowly walked from her tent, still with her stomach bandaged.

"A quiet dinner party eh Phoebe?" I taunted.

"Thalia come with me, we are going to see if we can get the pack to stop this infernal racket so we can get some sleep." Lady Artemis said to me. I nodded and followed her. The sight when we got to their campsite was the strangest I have ever seen.

**25 POV**

I was running the non-alcoholic bar at the side of the party zone when I saw Artemis and her lieutenant approaching. This was going to get real ugly, real fast.

We were all in our party suits-morph suits with colors equal to our rank and with our number sewn in and slots where the mouth is so we can eat. The mini sun 20 had put up showed no sign of fading anytime soon and we still had plenty of Cal's fireworks left to shoot off. 17 was still rocking the beats at the turn table. I still had plenty of monster mixed with nectar left to go around. They were going to have no chance of stopping this party. It was the biggest we had ever thrown. I was going to close the bar so I could explain we were not going to stop the party, they should have moved, but 26 walked over to them to handle it. This was going to end really poorly given 26's track record.

**Artemis POV**

I woke to bring lights, explosions, and a sharp pain in my stomach and music blaring. I was surprised all of Canada was not awake, that is how loud it was. I called Thalia to me and I went down to the pack's camp to stop the party.

I was not expecting to see everyone in full-body numbered suits with Cal, Thorn, and Thame nowhere in sight. I remembered they were not at this party so I looked for and of the "Royals"

I assumed they were the ones wearing purple instead of the normal gold or the few white suited ones running around as purple was the color royalty. 25 was running a bar that I hoped didn't serve alcohol. 24 was nowhere to be seen. 23 was crowd surfing in the middle of the dance floor. 27 was using lightning his lightning to set off more and more of the obnoxious fireworks. 26 had seen us and was walking over. They were the only one I had seen in purple. This would be interesting. I had never heard 26 speak, but the girls said he fought like a demon on the battle field.

"How may I help you Artemis?" He asked me with a cold note in his voice. Up close, he was rather large. He was about 6'5" and board shouldered. His suit was stretched tight across his skin due to the overabundance of muscles. _This one wasn't my son, much too large and straight forward. It isn't 27 either sine he was a son of my father. So that left 23, 24, and 25._

"Can you stop this noise so my hunters and I can go to sleep!?" I said it more like a command than a question, but I was tired and hurt, sue me.

"We gave both you and your lieutenant warning of how loud this party would be Artemis. You chose not to heed our warning and find a new campsite."

I turned to Thalia for confirmation she had also been warned and she replied

"I told the hunters we had to move, but they all complained and Phoebe said she would take responsibility if they were actually too loud to sleep."

26 chuckled and muttered something.

"What was that?" I asked him.

"Oh, nothing. Just that the whole stick up the ass is Thame's idea. He has been evading the gods for thousands of years and hate almost all of you. We choose to follow his example in public because we feel somewhat the same. We worked so hard to stay hidden all for nothing."

"Did you know Percy?" Thalia suddenly asked.

"Yes, he was the one who saved me from the wrath of the gods chasing me. He has finally found peace and wishes not to be found. Now if will excuse me, I have missed enough of this party for Q and A and 27 is about to light some our honorary fireworks to the heroes."

With that, a fireworks display like no other began.

It started with the usual favorites like Perseus, Theseus. No Heracles or Orion though, which made me happy. Then it got to one of Percy, Annabeth, Nico and Thalia fighting off hundreds of monsters to protect Olympus. Thalia smiled a little at that one.

Next was one of Jason defeating Krios singlehandedly and toppling Orythys with Reyna. Thalia ran crying back to camp when she saw that one.

The final one was the seven all standing on half-blood hill defending it from Gaea herself and Leo sacrificed himself to fade her. I thought the show was over when one last fire work went off. It was a familiar face, but I couldn't put my finger on it. It was of a beautiful girl, but it wasn't Aphrodite. She seemed more...wholesome than that. The face faded and normal fireworks began again.

"Who was that girl at the end?" I asked 26, but he was already gone back into the crowd.

I sighed in defeat and walked back to my camp.

**Thalia POV**

When I saw my brother again, I broke down. He had been part of a quest to find Percy when they were attacked from all sides by hordes of monsters. Reyna, Hazel, Frank and my little brother Jason were all killed. Only Piper made it out alive.

They were all immortal, so they should have reformed by now, but for some reason, they did not reform. Something was blocking reformation of both monsters and immortals. I missed my brother so much. I had lost him twice.

Piper her own cabin at camp that she shared with Annabeth.

Now there was another painful story. Zeus and Dionysus had both tried to cure her new madness, but she was too far out and at war with herself. She had complete Schizophrenia. Half of her wanted her to go find Percy while the other half wanted to find Darren. He had broken her completely.

Whenever I was at camp, I noticed she seemed to be doing better until Drew started charm speaking lies to her and making her regress. Long story short, Drew had taken a trip to visit some family down below. I had Nico do it.

Another sore point. I missed Nico so much and seeing all the heroic things we had done together had only made me miss him more. Why did it seem that the best heroes died while not at war?


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N I don't own PJO or HOO**

**Thame POV-The next morning**

24, Cal, Thorn and I all made our way back to camp the next morning. They had used all the fireworks, the mini sun was still going, and figures in morph suits were collapsed everywhere. Only 26 was standing.

"I take it there is a new decibel record, seeing as this is the biggest mess I have ever seen in after one party?" I asked him.

He nodded. "The hunters didn't take our warning though. I got them to leave before things got going too much. Hopefully they went to a different campsite." he told me.

"I shall go see." I told him. "The rest of you, start getting people up and cleaning up. We move up in 2 hours."

I walked to where the hunters were camping and found them huddled around a campfire, looking like they hadn't slept at all, which they probably hadn't.

"I tried to warn you they can get loud." I chastised the hunters.

They all gave me the evil eye and I noticed Thalia was not there.

"Where is your lieutenant?" I asked Artemis

"The honorary fireworks that were set off had a few that struck close to home for her." She went to the other two for comfort.'

"Other two? Other two what? Children of Zeus?" I asked, actually confused.

"The other two who lost the biggest peice of their life after the second giant war. Piper Mclean, who is convinced Jason survived with her while she watched Reyna, Frank Zhang, and Hazel Levesque die. She refuses to admit that he is gone.

Annabeth Chase is the other one. An evil son of Zeus brainwashed the camp to hate Percy, but Annabeth resisted. He broke her mind beyond repair to get rid of Percy. She is torn between loving Percy and betraying him for the Zeus scum. Her condition was worsened by a few campers who were jealous of her and Percy, such as Drew Tanaka.

They both live in a small cabin at the edge of camp. The last surviving members of the seven and they are both broken. Thalia goes there to try and help them. Aphrodite teleports her there when any of them need a shoulder to cry on."

"You forgot Percy still lives." I told her

"I guess I did. Jason, Hazel, and Frank were immortal so they should come back at some point, but immortals are not reforming for some reason. If they come back, they there will be 6 of the seven living. The Valdez boy died fighting Gaea so he id the only one truly gone." She replied.

"Well that aside, we are heading to the rockies for our next mission. I will have 24 track the earthborn with a few of our stealthiest assisting him. Earthborn are the only monster reforming, so I want to test to see if Gaea is helping them, or something else is trying to frame her."

Artemis nodded and motioned for the hunt to get up.

"We leave in an hour and a half" I told her.

The hunt all groaned at this, but set to work after artemis glared at them.

"If they can get going so fast after whatever hangover they have, then we can follow them with no sleep. Thalia will meet us there." she said

I jogged back to our camp and saw everyone except 23 up and cleaning up. Most of them were out of their morphsuits ( Cal calls them party suits.) and were cleaning the mess of cups, party streamers, and inflatables that were all over the place. Somehow, they had gotten entire pizzas stuck together to create a hammock. I suspect 18. He always did strange stuff with his food.

"Someone make use of the pizza hammock and start carrying 23. Pack your stuff. We head out soon." I called to all of them.

I led the pack on Star with Cal and Thorn close behind me. When we got to the Hunter's camp, they were mostly packed and generally organized, guess us seeing them in complete disarray last time shocked them into shaping up.

"Are you ready to leave Artemis?" I called to her.

"Just about, I have a few questions for you about that party though." she responded

"Ask them while we ride. I am sending 24 along with 13 and 15 ahead to track the earth born, who would you like to send with them seeing as you are supposed to accompany our missions?" I asked

"Atlanta, you go with the boys, keep them out of too much trouble." She called to one of the eldest huntresses.

Atlanta nodded at Artemis and walked over to 24, 13, and 15.

"Head out you four, report back if you have interesting news. If nothing out of the ordinary happens, wait for us at the designated campsite." I told them

'You do not order my hunters boy." Artemis said to me scathingly.

"Correct, I do not, but I do order my pack and I was under the influence that your huterr was going to be following them on their that not correct?" I told her in a condescending voice.

She growled at me for a second, then nodded in agreement. "You are lucky my brother has convinced me you are not like him, otherwise I would have castrated you by now." She said with her voice bursting with hate.

"You could try" I told her. "Now get going 24, if the huntress follows or not."

He nodded at me, glared at Artemis, then turned his back on us and sprinted off into the woods, closely followed by 13, 15 and Atlanta.

"They will try nothing with your huntress Artemis, I swear on the river Styx." I told her, knowing how hard it was for her to watch one of her hunters go off on a mission with males.

"You better be right male." She barely said at a whisper.

"Fall in troops" I bellowed as the pack, followed by the hunters, began the long journey to the Rockies.

**A/N**

**I know that took way to long to post, but my lacrosse season has picked up and homework has as well. I will try to better from here on out and post on a weekly basis. **

**Thanks and happy reading-Centurion Africanus**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N I do not own PJO or HOO**

**24 POV**

Thame told me to head out and I was more than happy too. I gave one last glare at my "mother" and ran off into the forest. I saw the portal Thame opened for us a little farther ahead and jumped right into it.

When I came out the other side, I quickly spotted a medium sized group of the Earthborn. They were sitting around a campfire roasting what appears to be a wild boar. The 13, 15, and one of my mother's hunters reach their vantage points and we begin to watch.

After the earth born finished eating, they buried their firepit and left the extra meat out to dry into jerky. These earth born were already acting smarter by building a fire, knowing how to handle food is another step towards civilized for monsters, which could be good or bad for demigods. The biggest one of the bunch stood on a rock and began to give a speech.

"We find Yay-son, we kill Yay-son, we eat Yay-son. Dark man pro-mi-ses this. We serve him." He-who I decided to call Matt-announced to the group. They clearly were far off from normal speaking seeing as he broke all the multi syllable words into pieces. But this dark man intrigued me. He was clearly trying to make it seem like Gaea was rising by favoring the Earth born over what ever creature he would normally use.

I signalled for my group to go to the clearing a little ways away so we could discuss this development and what to do next.

I leapt from tree to tree until I reached the small plain and waited as the others came running. Only Cal, Thame and I could tree jump. I guess me because of my mother. Cal had so much ADHD, he was jumpy enough to keep from snapping the branches, and Thame was on a level all his own. The guy was a complete mystery to me, but he was loyal and had saved everyone at least five times. I would fight to my last breath beside him.

When the others arrived, the huntress was staring at me dumbfounded.

"How did you leap from tree to tree like that. I have only ever seen Milady do that, and even she struggles sometimes." she questioned, clearly upset a male could do anything better than my mother.

"I practiced." was all I told her. Truth be told, I never had trouble in a forest, everything just came naturally to me.

"Well whatever" said 15, "We need to decide what to do now. Do we go back and tell Thame and the others about this "Dark man" or do we wait here at the campsite?" He asked, more to me than everyone else. Aside from 27, Cal, Thorn and of course Thame, the others considered me the most powerful.

"You three go tell Thame about this, I will continue to spy on the Earth born and try to see if this 'Dark man' shows up or not." I ordered them

"But I am to accompany you on this mission." argued the hunter.

I turned to her and gave her a harsh glare, "And you have, I am doing my own off the books mission now so you do not need to follow me. I work best alone anyway." I answered sharply

She looked mad, but just turned on her heels and took off down the path we came on, closely followed by 13 and 15. They were great hunters, but I was the best.

I snuck back up to the earth-born and found them all asleep. I stole some of the jerky hanging from the trees and fell asleep in the tallest pine.

~~The next morning~~

I awoke to a roar.

"Who touch meat" came a great shout from below me. If it weren't for the rope I used to tie myself to the tree I would have fallen out of the tree. I guess the Earth born found out I took some-cough all cough- of the meat they were trying to preserve.

They all started shouting and pointing finger until it turned into a brawl. It was funny to watch actually.

"Wait" Matt called and all the earthborn stopped fighting among themselves, "I smell half-blood, FRESH MEAT" He yelled the last part while pointing up at where I was hiding. So much for secrecy.

I lept out of the tree to make my grand entrance.

**Artemis POV**

The next morning, when we were almost halfway to the campsite in the mountains, Atlanta and two of the pack boys ran into sight.

"Where is the third male?" I asked Atlanta when she was close enough to hear me

"He sent us to report that the earthborn are reporting to someone calling himself the dark man. Then he said he was going to do an 'off the books' mission." she responded

"Do not worry about 24." said Thame from behind us. "He is one of the best fighters we have, he is just going to make sure only the one pack of earthborn is in the area, then he is probably going to kill them."

"How can you be sure that he is not working FOR the monsters, or is their leader. You should be worried he is going alone." I told to Thame, I finally had the upper hand on him, maybe he will spill some details about his pack, maybe even who my son is.

"He runs these "off the books" missions by himself all the time, he enjoys solitude and works best alone. While he does hate most of the Olympians, he is loyal to them by my word. Percy turned him off a dark path, a dangerous path. If you trust Percy, you should trust us." He retorted.

"How can you be sure, you said he hates the Olympians, how do you know he is not setting up a trap for us ahead?" I asked, quickly losing my confidence.

"Because we are here with you. He would never hurt his family, if you were alone, I would actually bother to watch most of the people here. None of us would do anything to potentially harm a brother. Loyalty to family id the other thing Percy taught us. You Olympians may have forgotten how loyal he is, but he, any of us, would lay down our life for one another. Do not doubt my pack, we are a family." He yelled at me. I felt terrible now. The last time us Olympians doubted Percy's loyalty, it was the biggest mistake we ever made.

"Fine, fine. Lets just hurry back so we can to the campsite, I don't want to leave 24 alone with Thalia when she gets to the campsite." I told him, "he may be loyal to his family, but I trust no man alone with a maiden."

"Fine, double time men" He called to his pack and they all sprinted off into the woods, leaving the hunt far behind.

~~Line break- back to 24~~

**24 POV**

I swung down from the tree while chewing of some of the meat I stole.

"Sup guys, you don't mind that I ate your meat, do you?"

They all roared and started picking up stones in their six hands as they glared at me

"U Yay-son" Matt yelled at me

"Hmmmm, Am I, I don't remember. You guys tell me. Do I look like Jason?"

With that I flipped back my hood for the first time since I joined the pack. My long shaggy auburn fell across my face. My deep forest green eyes shimmered in the sunlight. My skin is a deep tan from all the years with the pack and my mouth is set in my perma-scowl.

They looked at me curiously, "No Yay-son. Who are you?" Matt questioned.

"I am the traverser of Tartarus. Slayer of Perses. Champion of the Arena of Tartarus. The slayer of Gration, bane of Artemis. I AM DOMINIC! english for διαρκώ the mighty one who endures all forces. Spread my name through the pit when you return, now be gone.

I sprinted through them fast as lightning, stabbing each one. they all dissolved in a matter of seconds.

I walked back to the campsite whistling a little.

**Cal POV**

When we got to the campsite, 24 was waiting for us. He was whistling a little which meant he had just killed a bunch of monsters, again. He sometimes went on little killing sprees that only Thame, Thorn, 27 and I could stop. I have only had to do it once, but he is scary good with his knives.

I saw Thalia walk out with the hunters as they came crashing into the clearing about a half hour after us.

"How are you males in such good shape" Phoebe questioned us.

"We got extreme endurance training." answered 26

"Where can my hunters get similar training?" asked Artemis to 26, great, now they are ganging up on him.

"Percy." I stepped in. "Percy is our trainor."

"oh, then would he care to come back to help train one of the few who didn't turn on him?" Thalia asked, great, now they are ganging up on me, just what I wanted

"Probably not, he is retired now, he only helps train new recruits." Thorn jumps in.

"Where is he now that he retired? Surely the mortal world is not safe for someone with as powerful scent as he has?" questioned Artemis

"He is at Mirage, our city for injured, those who are retired, and for new recruits to be trained. and no, you cannot go there to see him. It is banned to all those outside the pack." finally, Thame stepped in to save our asses

"Where is this city, and how come I have never seen it from my chariot at night?" Artemis shot back.

"It's location is one of the most closely guarded secrets to the pack. It is heavily enchanted so it is invisible at night, specifically so you cannot see it Artemis." He told her, Star growled as she started to reach to reach for her dagger.

"Fine boy" she spat "24, boy, get over here and do a report NOW" she shrieked, I think it is her time of the month.

"You do not order my men Artemis. And for you to know, I am sending 24 out in the morning to hunt the remaining monsters on our list alone, none of the hunters are to be sent with him, they would slow him down.'

"NO!" Artemis yelled at him. "You do not tell my hunters what to do. I will send someone with him or accompany him myself."

I knew Thame was smirking under his hood, he had wanted her to say that. He had tricked her into leaving, which means her hunters would have to go back to camp half-blood and leave us in peace. It would also be funny to see 24 stuck with his mother who threw him into Tartarus as a baby. I still want to know what man finally got to her, but that answer would come when we were forced to reveal ourselves.

"Go with him then." Thame told her. "I also swear on the River Styx that if you do, He will make no advances on you." he added.

"Fine, girls, pack everything up again. I am sending you to camp."

All the hunters groaned at this. They had just finished unpacking and were planning on falling asleep. To bad for them.

Once they were all packed up, Artemis flashed them to camp.

24 was standing at the edge of camp, seething mad at all of us. He now had to go on a mission with the god who threw him into Tartarus, not fun for him, funny for us.

"When I get back, No party." He called to 23 who just shrugged.

He turned to Artemis, nodded at her, and sprinted off into the woods, Artemis quickled followed.

"Back to Mirage everyone." Thame called out. He opened a portal and we all stepped into it. When I got to my room after letting Orcala into the stables. I wondered if this darkman who was rallying the monsters was keeping all the immortals from reforming. Maybe it was the gods themselves.

"I will find you again Calypso, I will never stop looking." I said for the millioninth time.

**24 POV**

I am fucking pissed.

Thame is making me go on a hunting trip with my MOTHER! The same bitch who threw me into the pit, when I was two! It took all of Percy's calming methods to keep myself from attacking her. SHE deserved a trip to the pit.

We wiped out all the wandering monsters on our way to the cyclops lair, well I killed them while she said that the "Ancient Laws" kept her from interfering. Bull shit.

When we got to the cyclops lair, I felt a presense much greater than any I had felt before.

"What is that presense" I asked Artemis,

"I don't know, I will assist more this time around since it seems very powerful." she told me confidently

"Great, more help than a disapproving glare. Exactly what I always I always wanted. Thanks mom." It slipped out of my mouth before I could stop my self. SHIT, this is not going to end well.

**And a good old fasioned cliff hanger. sorry for not posting for so long, I usually write the bulk of my chapters on Saturdays, but I have had long drives to Lax games the past Saturday and another one tomorrow. This has taken me forever to write, finals are coming up as well so posting may come less than once a week, sorry, I am commited to this story, I just am extremely busy these days. **

**Happy reading -Centurion Africanus**


	11. Chapter 11

**I do not own PJO or HOO**

**Artemis POV**

**I zoned out while 24 started a rant, stupid male. Then I heard it, one little word I never thought I would hear again. Mom. **

**24 was my son. **

**I broke down, I never thought I was going to see him again. I ran forward to him and hugged him as I started to cry. **

**"My boy, my baby boy." I kept mumbling to myself over and over again. **

**He just stood there, stiff as a board. He didn't hug me back, but he didn't push me away either. There is still hope for him to consider me his mother, still hope. **

**I slowly let him go and he pulled off his hood. I saw the face I hadn't seen in hundreds of years. His auburn hair, like mine, was long and shaggy. Part of it fell into his deep forest green eyes. **

**"Why?" He asked me, It was the only question he would want answered I suppose. "Why would you throw your own son into freaking Tartarus. Was it to cover up your mistake, or did the other gods make you do it. I know it wasn't a monster, I remember you coming back into the tent one day and opening the floor under me. So why?" He was deadly calm, why would he just get mad, yell a bit, and we could make up after. **

**"I need to give you the whole story. It started when I went to rescue a maiden." and I began my story. **

**~~Flashback~~**

**I was in Oregon with the hunt when I felt a maiden in distress. I left the hunt and went to find her. When I got there, she was in pretty good shape. She was hardly beaten and her one cut was already tended to. I introduced myself and she told me her name was Claire. she told me she was camping alone when a drunk man stumbled into her campsite and attacked her. He only got in a few punches when a shadow figure jumped from the trees and beat him and threw him into a tree. He placed a hand on her shoulder and she appeared in this forest with her wounds tended to. She joined my hunt and is still with us. **

**This pattern continued for about a year. I eventually caught the shadow man using the same trick as I used to catch the pack. The only difference was he immediately recognized me. He bowed and asked for my forgiveness to be in my presence. **

**I questioned his motives and he told me he was a son of Achlys. She felt so bad about what she did to Percy and Annabeth while they were in the pit, she made him from pure energy and sent him into America to prevent the innocent from pain and misery and give it tenfold to those who harm the innocent. **

**I was astonished, he was kind, humble, and he treated maiden like they were gold. I set him free and continued to help the ,maidens he rescued. We would talk for a little after each rescue and little by little, I fell for him. **

**After a terrible attack from the Chimera left most of my quickly growing hunt dead, I went to him for comfort. I was so grateful that I lost check of my emotions and Aphrodite took notice. She manipulated me to try and take him, to lose my virginity. But he refused. He stood strong and reminded me of who I was and I overcame the spell Aphrodite placed on me. She was so mad she sent a lion and it killed him. **

**I was devastated. I still haven't got over him. I've never stopped thinking about him. One day, while the hunt was back in Oregon and I was thinking about him alot, I heard crying out in the woods. I made my way to the spot where I found the first maiden he saved and found a baby. It looked like a perfect mixture of me and him. I had thought so much about him, I had a mind child. **

**I kept you hidden for 2 years, that's when everything went wrong. Apollo saw you with me and thought I broke my oath. He came storming down towards me and I shoved you into the tent. I knew I had to hide you or Apollo would kill you in his rage. I sensed a small tunnel just your size and opened the ground to hide you. Apollo came in and searched for you, but I had hidden you well. When he left, I opened the hole again and found it was a tunnel that fell straight into Tartarus. I was heartbroken. I had accidentally sent you to your doom. But you survived and here you are. **

**~~End Flashback~~**

**24 POV**

**I listened to my mother's story intently. It was horrible. Not only did she take all blame off herself, but she made it so it seemed like she kept her virginity. **

**"I don't buy it." I told her. **

**She started crying again. "Its true, please believe me. Go to Elysium, find your father. I made sure Hades put him there. Hades is the only one, aside from my brother and Hestia now I guess, who knows you exist. Find him. His name is Dominic."**

**That got to me. I had chosen the same name that my father had. **

**"While i was in Tartarus, I was raised by monsters. I was taught to hate the gods for putting all of in Tartarus. I thought the monsters were simply misunderstood. Then my mentor, a drakon, tried to eat me when I was 12. I killed him with my bare hands and chose my name. **διαρκώ. In english, Dominic. I started a war against all monsters in their own home. Everything was fine until I found the arena. I had to battle and kill Perses, Titan of destruction to escape. I wandered farther until I found the place where the giants were reforming. I slashed each monster zit until there was only one left. It burst and Gration stepped out to protect himself.

Even in his weakened state, I couldn't protect myself. He beat me, then recognized your features on me and was furious. He wanted to be the one to break your virginity. He took me to the palace of the giants. He told me who you were and that all the gods, including you, had failed me. He tortured me, along with several others, including a huntress of yours, for 5 years. Then Thorn came to save us. He seemed to know the huntress well, she allowed him to hug her. He used a spell and channeled the soul of the huntress into a new form above on the surface. He gave a set of keys to Bob/Ieptatus and Damasen to escape and have their souls set free as well. Bob was freed, but the keys broke when unlocking him. His soul was also repurposed, but before Thorn could free Damasen, he was captured by Gration as well. Gration was torturing him for a month straight before he was thrown into a holding cell like Damasen and I.

He was in terrible shape. He was covered in scars, I couldn't even see the ones on his face since he still had his hood on. That day, I found out I have healing powers and I healed him. He got us out of our cells and tried to get Damasen out as well, but Damasen told him to go on, that we would never escape if we wasted our time on him. Thorn and I made it to the edge of Tartarus. Gration was waiting for us there with an army. Thorn and I took care of the army pretty nicely, considering I had no weapons and he only had a sword. In the end Gration and about 1/4 of the army had me surrounded and Thorn captured. He told me to surrender or he would kill Thorn.

I was at a crossroads. I got on my knees like I was surrendering, but I was actually using ancient magic that my drakon mentor had told me about. I summoned a bone of Tartarus.

A bone of Tartarus is a magical energy that forms the best possible weapon for the one who summons it. It is infused with the power of the primordial himself. I got a set of hunting knives. The knives I am holding right now actually. I killed Gration myself and carried Thorn on my back as I climbed out of Tartarus. Thame and Cal were waiting for us at the top. They told me about the pack and let me join. I was the third one of the current 5 royals. 23 and 25 followed soon after.

"That is my story, mother. " I spat her. "According to you, I went through torture and unthinkable pain for a simple accident. You will have to earn my forgiveness if you want it. Or you can forget who I am, I would personally prefer the second option."

She stared at me, a dazed expression on her face.

"Who was the huntress that was in Tartarus?" She asked. Really that is what she got out of the story.

"No clue." I told her. Ok, so that might be a lie, but it would give away who Thorn was and I wasn't going to do that to him.

"We have a mission to finish." I told her "Glad we got all the mushy crap over with now, but we need to kill the cyclops lair that is killing a serious number of demigods."

She refocused and we stormed the building, hunting knives and bow ready.

Artemis POV

After I heard everything my son went through, I was even more heart broken. How could I have put him through everything I put him through. I didn't even want to think about it. I asked about the hunter to try and take my mind off what happened to him. That only made things worse. I should have just stood up to Apollo that day and fought for my son. My biggest regret.

I snapped out of it when he started yelling and focused back on my mission.

We charged, I couldn't believe it. I was fighting getting the opportunity to fight along side my son. We hacked cyclops anfter cyclops into dust. there were about 100, but neither of us got a scratch. He was a phenomenal fighter. Everything was great until the shadows attacked us.

They were pouring out of the walls, floor and ceiling. An army made completely of shadows. They quickly surrounded my son, Dominic, or was it technically Dominic Jr? The shadows pressed inwards holding spears and other assorted weapons, one even had a chicken leg the size of a chair.

Two men stepped in form their ranks. One had deep red eyes and slicked back red hair. He had a suit like Hades. full of tortured souls. He also was missing his left arm. The other man had deep chocolate colored skin, black hair, and deep black eyes. He looked like a Shadow, but he was solid.

"Welcome to our trap Artemis and member of the Hunters of Fate, our eternal enemies." The red eyed one boomed. "I am Tartarus and my associate is Erebus. Now Dominic, would you be so kind as to return my arm so I may take my true form and annihilate the planet?"

Dominic glared at him with more hatred than when he looked at me. "How did you know we would be coming here?" He asked, he was smart, I couldn't be a more proud as a mother.

"Since you will not live very much longer, we might as well tell you." Erebus told him. "We have an Olympian spy. They provide us with all the information we could possibly need to stay a step ahead in this war."

An Olympian spy! This was going to be huge news, if it ever got out.

"Good to know." Dominic told them. He was completely cool under the gaze of two primordials. He took his hunting knives off his belt and handed them to me.

"Tell Thame it is time to use Omega protocol." he told me.

"What do you mean!" what was he going to do that meant he couldn't give the message himself, ohno.

He placed his hand on my shoulder and triggered my powers somehow. I felt myself flash away, with his knives, and found myself in a bedroom. More specifically, Thame's bedroom.

**Thame POV**

I am simply napping in my room in Mirage, when poof, Artemis is in my room. Holding 24's knives.

"What happened to 24, where is he now, and why do you have his knives?" I questioned before it dawned on me. "He gave you the knives before he sacrificed himself and teleported you here, didn't he."

She nodded.

"Then you should know, he was your son you carelessly misplaced in Tartarus. His self-chosen name was Dominic. Like his father before him."

"He slipped up and called me mom by accident. He told me his story. How could I have done such a horrible thing to such a fantastic person? I don't deserve to have such a fantastic man as my son. He deserves someone better than me." She started to sob.

"Well what happened and where is he now?" I asked gently.

"He force flashed me out when Erebus and Tartarus showed up at the Cyclops lair. He told me tell you something about Omega protocol." She continued sobbing, but my blood ran cold.

"Are you sure he said OMEGA protocol." I said the word carefully, if it was really time, life was going to get a lot crazier.

"Yes, he said it was time. What does that mean? Where are we? Where is my son?" She rapid fired off the questions while still sobbing

"We are currently in Mirage, city of the hunters of fate. Your son has probably been taken to the palace of Tartarus to be tortured with the other immortals that haven't reformed. As for Omega protocol, flash me to Olympus and call a meeting. Time to call in reinforcements." I told her, keeping my voice cool and collected.

"What, you know where the immortals are being kept! My son is with them! Why didn't you tell us about this when we were with the gods when we first met? You said you told us your secrets!" She shouted at me, clearly pissed off beyond imagination.

"We told the truth, just not the whole truth. We withheld information that would only make the gods unnecessarily mad at us. We have the good of Olympus at heart, but the gods have tried to kill some of us, others were harmed by monsters or abusive mortals and their godly parent did nothing to help them. They found their way to camp to be shunned again. They did not wish for the gods to know their identities. I only had a theory where the immortals were being kept, it just happened to be right. Now hurry up and get us to Olympus. The gods need to prepare for what is to come. They barely survived a war with one primordial. Now they have to deal with the Axis primordials and before you ask, I will explain once we are in the consul meeting.

**This is going to be my last chapter until June 7****th****. My finals end on the 5****th**** and I need the 6****th**** to write chapter 12. Chapter 12 will likely be a filler. I am welcoming any and all suggestions, but keep the flames, I have gotten quite a few of those lately. Most like, pick someone for Percy already! Or I hate your story for lack of quotations in the early chapters. I am working on it people, work with me a little. Sorry, I needed that out of my system.**

**Happy reading-Centurion Africanu**


	12. Chapter 12

**I do not own PJO or HOO**

**Reyna POV**

Start of day, about 281,050(I did the math, this is the real number.) My 770th anniversary of being in Tartarus, along with Hazel and Frank. I keep hoping Jason will come busting down here, blasting down the doors and saving me, but seeing as what happened at our last battle, the one that got us minor gods of heroes stuck down here in the first place, it doesn't seem likely. It all started when Jupiter gave us a pointless quest.

**~~Flashback~~**

"Son, I want you to take the other gods of heroes, minus Athena's daughter of course, and the immortal daughter of Bellona, and free everybody from inside the Lotus Hotel and casino. Kill the staff and the owner, and I shall make you my heir to the throne of Olympus." He said in a bellowing voice to everyone.

He also was toying with his master bolt as a veiled threat anyone who might protest.

"Very well father." Jason had told him. Jason, Frank, Hazel, the whore, excuse me, _Piper_, and myself set off for Vegas.

Once we got to the Casino, we split off into groups, Jason with Piper, Frank with Hazel, and I was forced to solo it. I saw Frank and Hazel making out on a couch a few hours later and I didn't even want to think where Piper had taken MY Jason. I kept wandering through the casino, killing the few staff members I found on the way.

I made my way into the biggest bar I have ever seen, and found the most repulsive person I would ever meet. Hercules. He was drinking his heart out and flirting shamelessly with multiple women. He hadn't been seen Jason had beaten him up, I refuse to believe that Piper had anything to do with it. I approached him to ask for aid.

"Mighty Hercules," I began. "I have come on a questing party to free all those trapped in this casino. Will you assist us?"

He didn't even give me a proper response. He just grabbed my head and slammed it to the ground and everything went black.

When I woke up, I was tied to a chair. So was the rest of my group. Hercules was talking to two men. One was completely black, clothing, skin, everything. The other one was an old man. He had a full Santa beard and a golden bathrobe, like he was about to take a shower. All three seemed to have different opinions on what to do with us. The man in black made a finger over his throat sign and Hercules nodded in agreement. They wanted us dead.

The Santa man was another story. He was shaking his head vehemently like he disagreed with this extremely. I could hope he won this argument. After several minutes, the black man pulled something from his pocket and showed it to Santa man. He took several steps back and gestured for the man in black to do as he pleased. We were screwed.

Hercules came into the room to boast shortly after.

"Ah, the "heroes" of Olympus. You are all weak flabby cowards." he started

"Then how come Piper beat you in a fight?" Jason questioned. Hercules only growled at this, then began to smirk.

"Then I guess I shall have my revenge on her and torture and kill her, won't I?" He told Jason pointedly. That set Jason off. He started to spark and his hair stood up on end, charged with electricity.

"You will never lay a finger on her, not while I can protect her." Jason growled at him. He was so attractive when he got overprotective, I only wish he was that protective of me instead of that whore from Venus.

"Try and stop me then, _brother_." he said as he took out his club quickly and smashed Piper full in the face. She went flying across the room and slammed into a wall, chair and all. She was obviously knocked out and had a large cut in her head that was spilling ichor rapidly.

To say Jason flipped would be an understatement.

He leapt to his feet with the chair still attached to him and flipped himself onto Hercules, breaking the chair over his head, probably with the help of wind manipulation.

Hercules crashed into Hazel and Frank and knocked them both out with his flailing limbs. Jason had freed himself from the remains of the chair and attacked Hercules barehanded. Hercules quickly knocked him out and was about to kill him when in walked Santa man again.

"No Hercules." he told him simply.

"But he made me look stupid, he ruined my reputation." Hercules whined

"Then pay him back in kind and use this instead." he told Hercules as he tossed him a crackling staff.

"Wh-wh-where did you get this?" Hercules asked him, completely confused.

"A little party trick, strike him and his friends down with it, minus the one you clubbed. Go ahead." He ordered Hercules with a cheery smile and vanished with a wave of his hand, along with the whore.

Hercules made quick work of Hazel and Frank as they dissolved into gold dust. He turned the bolt towards me and everything went black.

When I woke up, I was in a cell with Hazel and Frank. We were chained to the floor and the man in black stood over us.

"Welcome to Tartarus young gods." He said with an evil smile. "I am Erebus and I shall be your jailer until the end of the world, then I shall make you fade."

**~~end Flashback~~**

There had been not been unnaturally cruel to us while we were kept prisoner, just an average prison. I kept myself, Hazel and Frank in shape and helped them practice their powers. We always kept an eye out for Jason, but we had yet to get any news on his location so far.

We were at breakfast when Erebus made is first appearance since our arrival in this prison. He was carrying an unconscious boy in a purple cape. Was he the current Praetor?

Erebus threw him on the floor unceremoniously and walked back out. I was about to walk over to him when Hazel stopped me.

"He is heavily shrouded in mist." She told me. "I am going to get rid of in so we can see who we are having join us." and then she snapped her fingers.

He shrunk to about the size of a 15 or 16 year old instead 22 like he had seemed. His cloak showed to have a silver lining and a silver emblem on the back. A pair of crossed hunting knives in a sun. He was also revealed to be wearing a light leather armor and his knife sheathes were empty. His face was still completely covered.

Frank poured some water on his head and he woke up spluttering. He gave us a once over before flicking his hood off. He had a long mane of auburn-brown hair and his eyes were a deep forest green. He had several nasty scars visible on his face, but he had a broad smile.

"Found you all at last, now the boss can stop freaking out." he said, still grinning. "I am Dominic, member of the hunters of Fate."

**Artemis POV**

I flashed myself and Thame to Olympus and called for a meeting. I still wasn't sure for what, but I was too shaken about what happened to my son to care.

All the other gods flashed in and looked at me for an explination. I just pointed at Thame.

"War is upon us." was all he said.

"Omega protocol?" Apollo questioned grimly and Thame simply nodded.

"What is the meaning of all this, what war, who are we fighting, and why is my precious daughter so upset? Zues started to throw a temper tantrum when his voice stopped working suddenly.

A portal opened in the back of the room and a figure the gods had not seen since Percy Jackson was supposed to be killed.

Chaos nodded at Thame, then turned to the rest of us.

"The time has come for me to aid you in your final struggle. To decide whether this age will live on forever, or a sixth age will decend over the Earth."

Zues tried shouting something, but his voice was still gone. It was rather humorus and some of the more immature gods like Hermes and Ares were trying not to giggle and failing miserably. Apollo was acting unusually serious though. He probably sensed one of his pack had been captured, like I could sense my hunters in danger.

Chaos rolled his eyes and turned to Zues, "You will merge the camps. They will train together, the Greeks have become lazy and boastful, while the Romans drive themselves into the ground with training. They will teach the other the proper way to act. When the camps face the major threat they cannot defeat, I will send my army to assist them, I am trying to keep my help unknown for as long as possible."

Zues nodded, looking slightly defeated he still couldn't speak.

"Artemis has more information on the happenings that caused this development, so she has the floor now." Chaos finished and he left back into his portal. The sound of Zues screaming in rage could be heard as soon as it closed.

"I was hunting the lair of cyclopses with one of the pack," I began, "And after we had defeated them, the shadows came alive and formed a large army. They were led by two of the most powerful being I have ever been in the presense of. Erebus and Tartarus. They spoke breifly with the pack boy. He gave me his weapons and somehow triggered me to flash to Thame's room and he told me to call a meeting and here we are."

"Why would his weapons matter to a primordial?" My half wit brother questioned.

"They matter because they are the weapons of a champion. Primordials are held by ancient laws set directly by Chaos that say they can only participate in combat if they have a champion who is willing to fight along side them. The primordial would give the weapon to their champion to signify they their champion. When they get the weapon back, the person is no longer the champion. The hunter who went with Artemis was Tartarus's champion." he told the council. Everybody jumped up and started shouting.

My son was the champion to an evil primordial, that didn't make any sense.

"We must kill the boy, he has gone back to his master and betrayed us." Athena said in her ever prideful voice.

" He rejected Tartarus and refuses to fight with him. Him being alive is preventing Tartarus from joining the battle against the gods. His capture can be exploited though. He was probably taken to the same place as the other captured immortals. I have a mind link to all members of my pack so I am going to take Cal and Thorn with me to rescue them. We welcome any gods willing to come to Tartarus with us to rescue them."

"I want to go." I told him and he nodded, unsurprised.

"Why would want to go help males Arty?" Aphrodite questioned me.

"He is in Tartarus and it is my fault." I told her. "And if I am not mistaken, there are two maiden among the captured immortals, and I always try to help maidens in need."

"If you three and Artemis are going to Tartarus, who is going to lead the pack?" Athena questioned.

"Either the most senior member currently traveling with us, or I am going to try and convince Percy to come out of retirement." Thame responded and Poseidon's head shot straight up.

"Tartarus is currently barred to all those who have not entered in the past." Hades said. "Unless you have been already, you will not be able to go in."

"Thorn has survived Tartarus twice and I have been once. Cal will be going for the first time, as well as Artemis." Thame calmly replied. So he had been to Tartarus, hmm, wonder when.

"Twice, how has he gone twice and still made it out. If he is that powerful, he must be killed." Zues thundered, idiotic father. I was going to tell him to put a sock in it when Thame beat me to it.

"You will do nothing of the sort. While we may be fighting against primordials, we also have several on our side. For certain we have Anake, Aether, Hemera and Eros looking for champions to aid us. Eros says he knows who he wants, as does Hemera. Anake has asked me in the past and I told her I would accept once all has been revealed. Erebus has his champion as does Tartarus, but he won't do anything that Tartarus wants. Also on their side is Pontus and Phanes. Nyx, Thallassa, and Chronus are not involved in the fighting and Ouranos and Gaia have been forced to fade. Chaos's champion died several millena ago, and she is unwilling to replace him. She cared for him like a son." Thame told them with authority.

Who are Eros and Hemera planning on asking?" Athena asked Thame, she usually asks a lot of questions, but this is geting ridiculous.

"I do not know for Eros, but I know Hemera is planning on asking Ms. Levesque upon her return from Tartarus." Thame told her while nodding at Hades. "She has grown strong in the pit, you should be proud of her." He told Hades directly and Hades changed form breifly to show his face swelling with pride as Pluto, before reverting back to Hades.

"Who is the champion of Erebus?" Hephastus asked, speaking for the first time today.

"Darren, the evil son of Zues who drove Percy from the camp and broke Ms. Chase's mind." Thame said, did his voice sound bitter?

"My son would join a fight against me!" my idiotic father shouted.

"He was acting on Erebus's order to get rid of Percy, he escaped Poseidon's palace when you learned of Percy's location and has since rejoined his master." Thame retorted.

"We will get no where by fighting," Poseidon shouted at Zues, who had been about to yell at Thame again. "I felt his presense leave my palace the day you assigned the hunt to watch the pack. This meeting is adjourned. Mercury, prepare to move camp Jupiter to Camp Half-blood. Everybody else will loan him power for the mass teleport. This meeting is adjourned." He announced with finality. It was good to see my uncle coming out of his depression, he looked healthier knowing Percy was ok.

With that the gods flashed out, one by one. Apollo came to me first.

"Be careful sis, Tartarus is one wacked up place. Thorn is going for round three in there so I feel confident you will be safe with him and the other pack members. They will not let harm befall you. Now go find your son sis." he grinned at the last part, he was never going to let me hear the end of this.

Athena came to me next, followed by Annabeth.

"I want my daughter to join your hunt." Athena told me. "She has broken her mind fighting over boys for the past 800 years. I am sick of her being usless and sitting around sobbing all day. She is still just as skilled as she was before and needs a new purpose." Athena spoke of her daughter bitterly.

"Are you sure Athena, Percy may be coming back and she may go back to normal when he returns." I asked her, this was something i was not expecting.

"Yes, now accept her already." Athena demanded impatiently.

"Annabeth Chase, please step forward." and she came forward at mycommand. Her once pwerful grey eyes had the look of broken glass. There were lines going through them that were a light blue. The effects of my evil brother's powers.

"Are you sure you want to join my hunt?" I asked her cautiously, "You will never see Percy again if you do join." I warned her. She just nodded.

You have seen my oath taken many times, go ahead if you really want to join.

"I, Annabeth Chase, reject the advances of men and join Artemis in the eternal hunt." she said robotically. I waved my hand and her clothes became a hunting uniform.

"Welcome to the hunt." I told her.

**Annabeth POV**

I was wandering through my house looking at my old pictures of Percy. I feel terrible that I willingly betrayed him. My mother showed me what I did to him. She said I was not worthy of him, that I should just be with Darren when he is released from his prison. But I want to at least ask for Percy to forgive me. I don't deserve him anymore, but I needed closure.

My mom came to me earlier and she said she had a job for me. She wanted me to join the hunters of Artemis. She told me that she wanted me to get information about this other group that was recently discovered and was traveling with them. They were the pack.

I had told her no, but she said this was the only chance I would get to see Percy again. I wanted to see him to apoligize, but why would he be near the hunt, they hate men. So I told her no. She looked at me sadly and flashed in someone I didn't recognize, he was wearing a black cloak and a hood so I couldn't see his face. He placed his hand on my forhead and everything went black.

**Whoa, summer at last. Thanks for the great reviews from last time and I have fixed the grammer mistakes that were in chapter 2, chapter 1 is next, then it should be all fixed. I am taking suggestions for who should be each primordial's champion. I know for Anake, Eros, Hemera, Erebus, Tartarus, Gaia, and Ouranos. The ones I am unsure about are Aether, Pontus, Phanes, Nyx, Thalassa, and Chronus. **

**happy reading-Centurian Africanus**


	13. Chapter 13

**I do not own PJO or HOO**

**Thame POV**

I portaled myself back to Mirage after the Olympian argumentative therapy, sorry, I mean council meeting. I sent a mental flare to all active members and signaled 18 to meet me on the stage to work on a mist form. He is a child of Hecate who is unnaturally good with the mist and matter manipulation.

Once everybody, minus Cal, who missed meetings to stare at pictures of Calypso and come up with conspiracies as to where she is, had arrived, I started with the bad news.

"Listen up men, Omega protocol has begun." I started.

"24 has been captured by Erebus and Tartarus. We have been keeping Erebus from attacking our world for millennia, and now the time has come to go to war against him. He has his champion. Darren Joshua, son of Zeus, is the champion of Erebus. He has allied himself with Tartarus, Phanes, and Pontus so far. Thallassa and Nyx will probably follow. We must protect our city at all costs. Mirage is now on lockdown to all non-portal travel." I started with the bad news, start with the bad so the good seems better I guess, I have never been good at public speaking.

"Cal and Thorn will go into Tartarus with a representative of the gods to save 24 and the fallen gods of heroes and whoever else might be a captured immortal." I added the last part as incentive for Cal, who had just showed up. He straightened up immensely at the mention of other captured immortals.

"Secrecy is no longer our main goal, only identities and Mirage are our secrets. Are there any questions?" I finished my report

"Why did you make a lieutenant Beef face mist form?" 22 and 21 called out at the same time. Those two will never change.

"I have contacted Anake. I have agreed to become her champion in the upcoming war. I must go to complete the quest she will set forth for me to prove my worth. I will still lead the pack with my sub-conscious inside the mist form of lieutenant Beef face." I told them, and they nodded solemnly.

"Who are the primordials who are with us then?" 1 called out. He was the newest hunter and was still a little behind the rest of us when it came to the knowledge of the primordials.

"We have awake, Hemera, Eros, and Aether for sure. Ouranos and Gaia can still choose champions from the realm of the faded and I believe Ouranos has chosen a champion and is waiting for Gaia to choose one as well before announcing their side. Chronus is decidedly neutral for all wars, past and future, although he does have a champion." I informed them. His champion and I were on good terms, he had for filled his task to become a champion during the titan war. He restored balance to Olympus and the minor gods.

"Now if that is all, Beef face is in charge of all outside contact and he, 27, and 26 are the only ones allowed to leave the base. 26 and 27 are receiving separate orders." I finished off and sent them to prepare the extensive defenses.

26, 27, 18, Cal, and Thorn stayed behind. 18 finished the mist form. It was me while I was the lieutenant. The cloak was a deep blue with sea green trim. The golden sun logo on the back had a lieutenant mark next to a wave mark. Each member had a different mark on their cloak that they choose, along with the golden sun symbol of the pack.

I sent 18 off with the mist form to get him weapons. I called 26 and 27 over to me.

"You guys are going on a final recruiting mission." I told them. "The camps have joined and I want you to train them a little. If any start to show the potential we are looking for, offer for them to join. 27, you do the romans, 26 the Greeks. 27, you are NOT allowed to reveal yourself. Even if you are alone with her, no one is allowed to reveal themselves unless something goes terribly wrong and we need to evac people. 26, you are not allowed to kill any children of Ares or Mars, maim and embarrass, sure, but not kill, got it you two?" I made sure they knew what to do.

"Yes" They both said sadly. I guess 26 was really looking forward to killing the war monger's children. 27 was sad for obvious reasons. He wanted to see her again more than life itself. That was mostly why I was sending him instead of 23. The years apart from her had changed him.

"Cal and Thorn," I started with their instructions

"We know what to do couz." Thorn told me. "You forget I have been to Tartarus more than you have, and I went in solo both times. I won't unmask myself to Hazel, but I am taking no responsibility for what Cal does if we find Calypso. That is a different story."

"Cal, no unmasking to Calypso until you get back to Mirage, got it?" I checked with him.

"No promises muchacho." He answered with a chuckle, I was shocked, that was his first real laugh since he joined the pack, Calypso really does work wonders on this boy.

"Fine, whatever." I told him. "The only thing you guys might be unhappy about is your companion. Artemis found out about 24 and is demanding to come along. She feels remorse for what she did to her son and claims it was an accident. If she tries to harm 24, go nuts on her, if not, give her a chance, I know you might have some animosity for her still Thorn, for multiple reasons. 'I added cryptically. Thorn definatly blushed under his hood.

"Bring it on bro, let's go Tartarus hunting!" Cal shouted. Damn, he was enthusiastic.

"I am taking you guys with me, along with 27 and 26 to the camp. I will explain why I am not going and to Chiron about why 26 and 27 are staying."

"And so you can see Annabeth again." Cal added while sniggering. I blushed while I rolled my eyes. It was true, I had never gotten over her once I learned she fought mind control to try to be with me, and she almost won.

"Whatever makes you sleep better." I told him before continuing. "There, Thorn will shadow travel you guys to the Tartarus entrance in Hades. From there, head to the brain of Tartarus, that is where his castle is. You should find the captured gods and 24 there. Then use a portal stone and get everyone out of there. It will take you to the camps, find 27 and have him take you to Mirage with lightning travel. We clear?"

"Geez mom, no need to be so bossy." Cal responded, I already missed his serious nature. Calypso better be there or he might finally break.

"Great, now let's go." I said as I opened a portal and we all stepped in.

**Thalia POV**

Once the hunters got to camp, I headed straight to the little cabin at the edge of the woods. There, I found Piper staring at Katropis, she hadn't done this in several hundred years, so I went over to see what had happened.

"What's wrong Beauty Queen?" I asked her and she flinched at the name. I forgot only Leo called her that.

"Athena came here with a creepy cloaked man. She talked to Annabeth for a while, then when they seemed to disagree on something, the creepy man touched her forehead and she agreed with everything Athena said. They both flashed a little while ago." she started.

"Annabeth had taken out Katropis recently and told me to check it like I used to. I think she was coming back finally. After Athena left, I saw you and a purple cloaked man fighting wind spirits. Then I saw the purple man fighting some of the stupid Ares campers with another purple cloaked man, but the second one had four arms. Then finally, I saw the camp burning and the mystery purple man carrying me out and disappeared in a flash of lightning. Who is that man, have you met him." She finished, geez, I was gone for under a day and all this happened, I guess war does that.

"I know about the man you saw. He is another child of Zeus. He is a part of the alternate hunters I told you about. He has a lot of control over lightning and can fly. He seems to be good natured, but I only spoke to him for a little while." I answered her.

"Could it be Jason?" she asked hopefully.

"It very well could be." I told her. "You saw Jason on Olympus after he was supposed to be dead and you saw him talk to Zeus. Then you saw Zeus try and fail to kill him. He ran. I think you might be right. I know Percy is one of their retired members and I think one of his lieutenants is Nico. He called himself a death breath, Only Nico would do that." I told her with confidence.

"I think someone is reconsidering their maiden vow." she sang to me and I turned bright red.

"I am not, I need to give that punk a beating for leaving me."I answered before realizing my mistake.

"You said me. You said for leaving me. You do love him. You loved him then and you love him now. That's why you got sad so much later after Percy and Jason 'died', you were really much more upset about Nico that is so cute!" She exclaimed

"Good to see the Aphrodite in you is still alive and kicking Piper, but I seriously don't have feeling for Nico." I insisted, but I was only lying to myself.

"Keep telling yourself that Thalia, you aren't fooling anybody here." She smiled for the first time in centuries.

"Well we need to find Annabeth." I told her and then I heard a knock at the door.

I went to answer the door and it was Annabeth. _Well that was easy_, I thought to myself. She seemed off though. The blue fractures in her eyes seemed to have grown. She was also wearing a hunter's uniform. Something was seriously wrong. She had been adamantly against joining the hunters since I had mentioned it was a possibility for her. She still had hope Percy was out there. She had been delighted when I told her we knew where he was. This had to be Athena's doing. She wanted her daughter on the front lines of another war, what a fantastic mother, note the sarcasm.

"How are you Annabeth?" I tried to start a conversation with her, but she just ignored me. Piper came up next to me.

"Where were you Annabeth? I was worried sick." She said to her gently

Annabeth didn't answer, she just grabbed my arm and pulled me away from Piper.

"Bye I guess Piper." I called back to her and she waved halfheartedly and went back to looking at Katropis

Annabeth kept pulling me through the forest until we reached the cabins. She led me right to Artemis's cabin and dragged me inside. Artemis was waiting for us. The rest of the hunt was out shooting targets/idiot males.

"Thalia, good to see you." Artemis started "Annabeth has joined the hunt as you can see. You will train her and introduce her to the hunt. They will probably welcome her with open arms, but some of the newer ones may underestimate her and do something foolish, keep them in line, am I clear?" she finished her orders, but something seemed off.

"What is wrong Lady Artemis?" I asked her. "Did something happen on your mission?"

As soon as I mentioned the mission, she broke down in tears. She just kept sobbing and sobbing.

"Was it that stupid boy milady?" I asked her. "Did he try to hurt you?" I kept trying to comfort her, but mentioning the pack member only seemed to make it worse.

"I can't say." she managed to get out

"Why not?" I asked her, whatever had happened, it really rattled her.

"You would hate me if I told you." she cried into my shoulder the whole time and it made her a little hard to hear. I had only seen her this sad once. It was about 200 years ago when Apollo came to visit, he must have said something really stupid to her because she was crying about whatever it was for the next 50 years. It got better for a few years, then got so much worse.

"I would never hate you, you gave me a chance to escape a prophecy, to start a new life. I am could never hate you, not after that." I told her while drawing circles on her back, this always seemed to calm her down, I found out during her 50 year sob fest that I still knew nothing about, she was less sad when Zoe died, so I knew it was really really bad.

"The boy, 24, sacrificed himself to save me. We were attacked by Erebus and Tartarus, he somehow triggered me to flash away. He gave up any chance to escape himself to save me. I am the last person he should ever save." she cried louder and harder, which I didn't think was possible.

"Of course you deserve to be saved." I told her softly, but she only cried harder

"You don't understand, he went to Tartarus because of Me." she cried rivers, my shirt was completely soaked, I could tell she had been holding this in.

"Then help me understand, what about him made him different, and how do you know he went to Tartarus, they could have taken him somewhere else, or killed him." I added the last bit as an afterthought and she started to wail in despair, something was really wrong for her to be crying for a man.

"It was him, the boy I threw into Tartarus when he was a baby. I got him sent there twice. I know he is there now, I can just feel it." she cried into my shoulder

That froze me, he had told her, the one who damned him for an eternity by sending to Tartarus, who he was. That was a big act for anyone in the pack. They seemed to love secrets more than life itself. They were so different than anybody I had ever met. Except Percy. He broke all rules and expectations. Impossible was just another Tuesday for him.

"How could you know he is in Tartarus?" I asked her, trying to change the topic off her throwing a baby into Tartarus.

She mumbled something I couldn't make out, but I didn't really care about the answer. Annabeth on the other hand seemed to hear the answer because she straightened up and stood completely still. I had forgotten she was even hear.

"Go join the other hunters and introduce yourself to them Annie." I told her. She just walked out, not showing she had even heard me, she didn't even react to me calling her Annie. This is just like when she was mind controlled. With Darren not there to tell her what to do, she was completely lost.

Once she was gone, I turned back to Artemis, who was still sobbing in my arms. "Who was he?" I asked her. "What did he, or some relative of his, do to get him sent to Tartarus and does this have anything to do with what happened 50 years ago? I questioned her and she collected herself and started to breathe deeply.

"He is my son."

**And cliff hanger since I have spent enough time on this chapter and need to move on to a new one. I know this took forever, but I was busy reveling in the first full week of summer, I will try to make it a regular chapter a week, but it might be two sometimes. **

**On the champion note, I have everybody figured out except for Pontus. I am sticking with 13 primordials, I want it to be an odd number because having an even number on any council could leave ties and that means either threatening to change votes, one person having extra power, or endless debates to try and swing votes. Any help on Pontus would be most welcome, something to do with water, but evil, I am drawing a complete blank.**

**Happy reading -Centurion Africanus **


	14. Chapter 14

**I don't own PJO or HOO**

**Athena POV (before Olympian meeting with omega protocol)**

My research was getting me nowhere. Thorn could be a reference to any number of monsters attack powers and it could also be the boy's power. It was getting me absolutely nowhere. I had researched Cal next.

The only actual result I had gotten was Cal the boread, and that was just a nickname. It was my only lead, so I went to try and talk to him. Turns out, he is just a knuckle brained ox who can't speak properly. He chased me around waving a hockey stick and shooting pucks at me from out of nowhere. I cursed him to never be able to do anything related with sports ever again. That will teach him to mess with the most powerful Olympian.

I was running out of ideas, until I heard a little whisper in my ear, the same voice that led me to Darren. The voice had given me my obedient daughter back. I listened to it and smiled, it was a perfect idea.

I found Darren again, he was wearing a creepy cloak, but who cares what he is wearing, he was just another tool for me. I got him to mind control Annabeth again. He vanished after he was done. I gave Annabeth my orders. Join the hunters and find any info at all possible about the lieutenants and Thame. If she got any interesting info at all about any members of the pack, she was to report to me as soon as she could make a natural exit.

**(After Olympian meeting)**

I got Annabeth to swear to join the hunters, but now I knew who Darren was. He had power like no other. I wonder if it was Erebus who was giving me such good ideas over the years. Maybe it was another primordial. This whole primordial business was intriguing. If only I could research each ones power. I could find a way to control them. I could rules all worlds like I had always wanted to. It would be perfect, now to get down to researching.

Sooner or later Annabeth would come in with some research material, then I could tear the pack down and make sure that Sea spawn stayed down for good. I would tell Darren the news I got, that would work. He was my only link to the primordials, and if the news I gave them pleased them, they could grant me the knowledge of the universe. Knowledge is power, and I will be the wisest of them all.

**Thame POV**

I portaled my chosen group to camp half-blood. My first time to my first real home, not counting the time I was with my mother, I was always at boarding schools and Gabe ruined all my time at home, in 800 years. The cabins formed a double WW shape now with all the minor gods having cabins. The big three started having children a couple hundred years ago. The Zeus cabin was full and the Hades cabin had only a few people. The Poseidon cabin had no one in it.

Poseidon had had other children after I "died", but I had gone out of my way to recruit them to the pack, they were the core of the hunters, the backbone and glue in hard times. All out features varied except for one. All of us had dad's eyes.

I used my water senses and found the cabin Annabeth was supposed to be staying in, but I only saw Piper, sobbing over a picture of Jason. I searched the entire camp, but she wasn't there, something was either shielding her from me or she wasn't here.

I found Chiron on the porch playing cards with Mr. D on the big house patio. Mr. D's sentence to camp was over, but he visited Chiron all the time, I think he missed the old horse.

"Chiron, Dionysus." I greeted them in turn.

26 and 27 both nodded to them while Cal and Thorn had to hold themselves back from Chiron, like I did. He was the first real father figure to all of us.

Chiron glanced up and seemed surprised, apparently no one had informed him about the pack.

"Hello, have we met?" he asked politely. I made the mist figure run forward and hug him, it made up for not doing it myself.

"It's good to see you again, _Mr. Brunner_." the mist form said and Chiron's face lit up like Christmas lights taped to Fourth of July fireworks.

"Percy? Is that really you?" he asked in complete shock, like it was too good to be true.

I had the mist form flip off his hood to reveal my old face, but about 22. As soon as Chiron saw it, he grabbed "me" full on and hugged the crap out of me.

"Good to see you Chiron, but careful, this is only a mist form, I am defending my other home. I am going to be the communication go between for the pack and camp. My body is with the pack and my conscious is here, in a mist form." I had the mist form tell him while squirming out of his grip.

"Pack? What is the pack?" Chiron asked him, the gods really need to inform their people better.

I had the mist form take him inside and explain everything. Even give him an orientation video on his own projector. Once he was caught up to speed, he was brought back out to me where I was casually waiting on the porch while 26 wiped the floor with Mr. D in cards. He was cheating big time, but who cares.

"So you are the leader, Thame, correct?" Chiron asked me once he was back on the porch. "And the black cloaked one is Thorn and the red one is Cal correct?" he double checked. We all nodded in reply.

"Then who are the two in the purple cloaks. The videos didn't say anything about them." he asked.

"They are Royals, forbidden children that the gods have tried to kill directly. One was even sent to Tartarus as a new born." Cal responded. "I was one at one point, as was Percy, or as he went by, lieutenant beef face, in memory of the minotaur." he added as an afterthought.

"Well, I can see that his sense of humor has not changed, even after everything he has been through." Chiron laughed while mist form me pouted, it was pretty funny to watch myself pout, I now know why people liked to mess with me so much.

"Back to business then." I told him. "26 and 27 are here to recruit from both camps. Tell the campers there will be a series of tests put forth by both of them. 27 for the Romans, 26 for the Greeks. There is no limit to how many we will be taking, but I suspect it will not be many. Do you have any suggestions of people to keep an eye on? Not counting and of the half immortals, they have to remain at camp." I told him, cutting right to the point.

"There is a son of Triton, Dan, he might be a possibility. All the children of Ares are good fighters of course, but I don't see you liking their attitude. The children of Mars, maybe, but not really Ares. I would recommend any child of Poseidon or Neptune, but we haven't had any since Percy." he said and I made a mental note to 26 to take a close look at the son of Triton.

"We already have any of Poseidon or Neptune in the last 800 years, at Percy's insistence of course.' I told him and he only shook his head.

"I should have known." he muttered "So why are you Cal and Thorn here if only 26 and 27 and Percy are staying?" he asked.

"One of my pack was kidnapped by Tartarus. He is one of the most powerful members we have and he is crucial for the upcoming war. Our travel companion is here, but seeing as I am no longer able to accompany them, Cal and Thorn are here to get started. We also plan on rescuing the fallen immortals. Reyna, Hazel, and Frank." I told him. "If Percy will come with me for a second, we will be on our way and let you continue with your cards. I think 26 has taken all of Dionysus's money by now. Make the announcement of the recruitment at dinner tonight. The trials will start tomorrow." I told him and left with Cal, Thorn, and mist Percy.

**Reyna POV**

He explained his whole life to us. He was the child of a maiden goddess, thrown into Tartarus as a baby. He was the champion to an evil primordial, but refused to follow his orders. He had power, but refused to use it so as to keep others safe. He was amazing. He was direct and honest. He only would not tell us the names of his companions, he said those were not his secrets to reveal.

He explained about the primordials and how they were choosing champions. How another war was coming. How we were going to be rescued at last. He was willing to sacrifice himself for someone who he hated, for the good of others. He was good to the core.

Not only that, he carried himself with authority. He had an air about him that said he had earned all forms of respect and power, but he never was arrogant with it. He was attractive in all ways, in character and to say he was physically attractive would be the biggest understatement in history. He had flowing auburn hair and deep forest green eyes. His features were strong and set. His scars only made him better, they showed he was a warrior, a fighter to the death.

But I would never have him. Aphrodite had said no demigod would ever heal my heart. She was a cold heartless bitch for that. After I became immortal, I found out she cursed me. To never be loved by anyone with any godly blood. I could only fall for a mortal, a non-legacy one, which was nearly nonexistent these days. The gods had been getting around a lot since they started ruling way back when.

He was with us for our meals, but that is the only time we saw him. Heard him was another story though. We could all hear his screams as Tartarus tried to break him personally, as he said he would. He would heal himself with some sort of energy power he had, he had no explanation for it, but he used it to scar over his wounds instantly and he also heal me Frank and Hazel.

I was brought out of my thoughts when my cell opened for dinner. Dominic was waiting for us, already healing himself. How he kept going after endless amounts of torture was beyond me, but it only made him better.

"Nice to see you guys." He greeted us. He was cheery which meant he had just had a particularly bad session.

"Sup Dominic?" Frank asked him casually, trying to lighten the mood.

"You know, being incinerated almost to the point of death by a primordial, how was your afternoon?" he responded and we all flinched at his most recent torture. Frank had always been afraid of fire, even after his fire-wood problem had been solved. He shuddered at the thought.

"Have you guys seen other prisoners around?" He asked, he was always curious about other prisoners, but had yet to describe which specific one he was looking for.

"We told you, we have seen a lot, but they have been in and out." Hazel told him. "If you told us who you were looking for, we could tell you if we had seen them."

"Fine then, it's a girl. She has chocolate brown air and deep brown eyes. Her skin is a dark tan, but tan by sun, not naturally, so she might have been pale. She is nice and innocent, would never hurt a fly. Her hair is slightly curly, but wavier. She loves plants and flowers." He described her in such detail, I knew she must be his girlfriend, I was crushed. He was taken already. My heart was getting broken all over again.

"You aren't asking for yourself, are you?" Hazel asked him with a smirk.

"Correct, and I believe you know who I am asking for." He smirked back.

"He's alive, I thought he died, I watched him die, I felt him die, how is that possible!?" Hazel broke down crying, who had died.

"He had the cure with him. He needed to be dead so he could find the island again. Once he was there, he had himself injected and he was brought back to life. An oath to keep with a final breath." he told her the final line of the prophecy of seven, the only line that I thought went unresolved.

Hazel completely lost it. She hugged Frank and cried and cried into his shoulder. He looked just as confused as I felt. Then his eyes lit with realization.

"Leo?" he asked, a little uncertain.

Dominic nodded at him and then Frank also broke down crying.

Leo, the little annoying city destroying elf repair thing. He was looking for a girl who might be in Tartarus. That made no sense. At least now I could beat him up for firing on my city and making me deal with Octavian and his power hungry crap.

"What is her name?" I asked Dominic

"Calypso." he answered. The name rung a bell.

"I remember her." I told him and he stared me down

"Do you know where she is now?" he asked deadly serious.

"No, but I can tell you what I do know." I told him and began my story.

**~~~Flashback~~~**

_I woke up with a ringing head ache. I found a beautiful girl nearby. Frank and Hazel were still unconscious. She looked over at me and spoke, _

_"So the first one wakes, I was wondering how long it would take, you must have had a nasty death young immortal, and offended some big people to end up stuck in the torture chambers of Tartarus himself, so share your story." _

_I was shocked by her directness, but I told her my story. She was shocked by the end of it. _

_"There were only three immortals sent here that day, you last companion, Jason, was not killed. He still lives. He will rescue his friends, he sounds like a good man." She said while staring off into space, like she had lost something she could never have back. _

_"What happened to you?" I asked her. Her answer was short and bitter. _

_"I was imprisoned and cursed by Zeus. A great hero died to set me free. He was the love of my life. Once I was free, Zeus struck me down in spite. I was sent here and on his orders, Hades dropped me right to Tartarus's personal torture center. He has not tortured me yet, but I have only been here for a few years." she answered with a note of finality. _

_"What is your name?" I asked her. _

_"Calypso." She answered. She then got up and left the room._

**~~~End Flashback~~~**

"I never saw her after that." I told Dominic and his face fell.

"He is coming to find her, I am afraid he might break if he doesn't find her. He needs her more than any human should need another." he said solemnly. I felt bad for the elf boy, and his friends for having to keep him sane. Some of the gods were real jack-asses. Zeus especially.

After that, dinner ended and Dominic was dragged off to his pre bedtime torture session. He gave me a mock salute and a grin as a pair of shades dragged him away. I was so in love with him, but all I was going to do was end up hurting myself more. Once I was back in my cell I curled up in a ball and cried my heart out. Why did the gods have to be so cruel?

**Thalia POV**

"He is my son"

I was shocked. She had broken her vow. No wonder she threw the abomination into Tartarus. His father must have been a powerful imbecile to have beaten a goddess, especially Artemis, then raped her. Unless...

"Was the father a man, or did you break your oath voluntarily?" I asked her carefully, I didn't want her to accidentally go bananas.

"I loved him. I tried to get him to break my oath, but he refused. I don't know to this day how my son was born. I-I am not ready to tell the full story, I didn't even tell him when he asked me." she answered, slowly building her facade again, that she hadn't had her heart torn out that her only child had been to Tartarus twice, both times being her fault.

"Any man who can turn down a maiden goddess throwing herself at him is one I would like to meet." I told her

"You aren't mad?" she asked me quietly.

"A little upset you didn't trust me enough to tell me, but no, I am not mad you had a child. I would like to hear the full story someday, but I understand if you are not ready to tell me yet." I told her gently and she smiled for the first time all day.

"Thank you Thalia, you are a good friend and sister." she said and gave me a hug. Now I am going to feel really guilty for what I am about to ask.

"So, if you fell in love and had a child, even if you didn't break your oath and I would never even consider it, but the pack has been saving demigods for centuries and uh there was one once and uh he was respectful and err uh um." I sputtered off at the end and Artemis gave me a sad look.

"Not that I **want** to leave the hunt, I don't even know if he is alive yet, but if he is and he feels the same way I do, would you be open to a little dating?" I asked and flinched waiting for her to slap me.

"Do I know him?" she asked

"Yes, you do." I responded slowly

"And he was..." she asked waiting for me to answer, and I panicked, I wasn't as ready to tell Artemis as I thought.

"Uh, I will tell you if you tell me the story of your son." I blurted out, if I had to say, I at least wanted to know her whole story.

She just shook her head

"Not yet Thalia, I know you are curious, but not yet, I want to make sure he is still alive to tell anyone, or the secret will just die with him." As she said the last part, she broke down crying.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. I got up to answer it. It was Thame, Cal, Thorn and ...Percy. His hood was down so I could see his face.

I squealed like a little girl and tackled him. Once we got back up, I gave him a full electrified punch straight to the face. And it went right through.

"Knew you might try that Pinecone face." he told me "This is my projected consciousness given a body made of the mist. I actually grew a brain cell in the past 800 years ya know." He laughed

"Then get your real ass over hear so I can kick it right back to where ever you are." Thalia joked

"Do you know where Annabeth is?" Mist form Percy asked, sounding desperate, I was desperate to know and I guess it translated to the mist form. Cal and Thorn were trying and failing to not crack up.

"Yes, she is here, but she joined the hunters. I am worried about her, she hasn't said a word to anyone since she took her oath. It is like she is brain washed all over again." Thalia told me and I knew what that meant. Dominic had beaten me here, but who helped him.

"What happened exactly?" I asked her-as Percy- and she told me about Athena and the cloaked man-Dominic. I was really going to beat the shit out of him when I finally meet him in the duels.

"That cloaked man was Dominic." I told her and she gasped. "He is back and has Athena on his side. The Olympian council, barring Artemis, Apollo and Hestia cannot be trusted from this point on." I said as Thame for the first time since arriving.

"No, no, no." Thalia groaned. "Athena was supposed to help her. That's why she was always around Annabeth, she was the one keeping her insane, it had to be. That is why she visited once a week." Thalia was losing it.

_It also explained why she is shielded. She is being hidden from the pack by Athena and Erebus. Erebus knows what a vital role Annabeth will play in stopping him if her mind fully recovers. _

"Well onto another pressing matter." I started as I addressed Artemis. "I will be unable to accompany you and Cal and Thorn into Tartarus. I have to go on a mission for Anake to prove myself to be her champion. Each Primordial has a laundry list to be their champion and I only have a few things to qualify. I will be cross country doing each task that remains. Cal and Thorn know what to do and where to go."

Artemis didn't seem to care. "One less male, whatever. When do we leave?" She asked

"Now" Thorn answered, grabbed her wrist and Cal's and shadow traveled them out.

Major Face palm

He just shadow traveled in front of Thalia, who already had a suspicion of who he was.

"Di-did he ju-just shadow travel?" Thalia asked gazing at the spot he just was

"Yes." I answered simply and she started crying.

"It's Nico isn't it?" She said. He had made it so easy for her it was like he wanted her to find him out, maybe he did. It clicked. Plenty of girls had thrown themselves at him over the years and now I knew who he was trying to get back.

_He loved Thalia. I was SOOO going to mess with him when he got back. _

"That is for him to say." I told her after a minute and she ran back into the cabin.

Time to get going on my missions, I gave a nod to my mist form, then gave him his own consciousness. He nodded back to me and wandered off. He was now programmed to act as I would and not give any info I wouldn't. The perfect stunt double.

I quickly portaled out of camp and to my first destination, Mexico.

**Artemis POV**

Thorn grabbed me and Cal and shadow traveled of to the edge of Tartarus in Rome, the place where Percy and Annabeth fell in. I didn't care right now why Thorn could shadow travel, guess he was some random child of Hades, I couldn't have cared less.

"Are you ready for the drop?" Thorn asked me and I nodded solemnly.

He and Cal ran forward and jumped in like skydivers. I took a deep breath and jump in after them.

**Speed filler writing, best for setting up badass fight scenes. There will be one coming on the journey through Tartarus. Cal and Thorn are going to go nuclear. Thanks to the suggestion from Stihdoom, I have my last champion. Thanks to all reviewers who helped give suggestions. I followed a few, they were helpful. The next chapter might be another filler, or it will be the first major action chapter. These first few chapters are kinda like the first three books in the PJO series, no real war, just the set up for epic battles. **

**Another note, I probably won't be posting again for some time. My grandmother just received terminal diagnostic. She has from a week to 3 days to live. With my grandfather dying this past January, this hits really hard. Hope your life is going better than mine. **

**Happy reading -Centurion Africanus **


	15. Chapter 15

**I don't own PJO or HOO**

**Artemis POV**

I did the single most foolish thing I had ever done, I jumped into Tartarus.

Cal and Thorn seemed fairly calm. Cal actually seemed excited. Maybe he was just some idiot thrill seeker, like the crazy mortals who ride roller coasters. Zeus put a tech lock on all mortals so they never become more advanced than us. They have had the same tech as they did 800 years ago.

Cal started fiddling with a metal orb at some point and it seemed vaguely familiar, thousands of years old. I wonder who he and Thorn really are. It doesn't really concern me though. I won't fully trust them without their identity, but I doubt I will need to trust them. They had taken in my son, so I would help them save him, trust them is another story.

Suddenly a pair of wings sprung out of the ball Cal was holding and he strapped it to his back. The wings shot him forward as rockets shot him farther ahead. Defiantly a thrill seeker. Thorn made a sound like he was rolling his eyes.

"Idiot, he needs to calm down. Just because she will probably be here is not an excuse to jet himself into the second most evil place in existence." Thorn grumbled.

"What is the most evil then?" I asked him, a little confused.

"That would be a girls clothing store." he said and I saw the lower half of his face for a second in a smirk. His skin was a light olive color I recognized from somewhere. He had a light stubble and a scar running down is jaw line.

"That is actually a good point." I answered him.

He just nodded and looked down again.

"Here it comes." he said calmly and I looked down in determination. The tunnel we were falling down opened up into a cavern. The clouds were acidic and red lightning flashed throughout the sky. The air was stale and cold. Thorn was putting on a gas mask looking thing and handed me one. I put it on carefully and I was surprised at how much easier it was to breathe. Cal was waiting for us at the bank of the Cocytus. He was fiddling with some levers on his horse's side.

How had he gotten it down here? I wondered to myself, maybe it could become a compact shape.

He kept fiddling as Thorn grabbed my arm and shadow traveled to Cal's side.

"How much longer Cal?" he asked him. "We are sending up a beacon to all monsters in all Tartarus, he knows we are here now. We need to get in the air." he said more urgently.

"Going going, got it." Cal said triumphantly. His horse began to twist and turn, slowly changing its shape. It grew as it unfolded and wings popped up. Its body became bigger and 3 saddles appeared on its back. It grew big strong back legs and two smaller arms. Last was the head and tail. The tail was long and had a blade at the end. The head had ruby eyes and a pair of horns. Its teeth were drill points and I didn't have to be my brother to see this was a mechanical master piece. A true work of art and destruction. It roared and blasted fire into the air. Cal gave a whoop of joy.

"Back in your true form for good buddy, no more of that crappy horse stuff." Cal said while obviously overjoyed.

The dragon roared in agreement.

"Touching you two, real touching, but we have work to do. Now I think you two owe a second ride to freedom to a certain girl." Thorn said with what I am pretty sure was another smirk.

Cal gave a whoop of joy and jumped in the front saddle. "Let's go, no time to waste. Artemis in the back, give us cover fire when the monsters attack. Thorn in the middle to create a shadow cover to try and hide us from sight." he said extremely fast, like he had gotten a hold of all the monster on the planet, he had to be super ADHD, I wonder how he contained it before.

"Don't mind him." Thorn told me, "He is just excited, he has been petitioning for a Tartarus mission for centuries, you won't believe how mad he was when I went to get 24 the first time. He almost blew up the base. Thame stopped him though." he finished and I shook my head. Only an idiotic male would WANT to go to Tartarus, he was probably some crazy thrill seeker. I wanted to be here for my son, no way he wanted to be here for love.

I mounted the dragon and got my bow ready. Thorn was in front of me and was creating a shadow orb around us. We took off after it was completed.

Once we were in the air, Cal and Thorn each took a spritz bottle out of the saddle next to them and sprayed themselves several times and put them back. Thorn turned to me and gestured for me to do the same, I guess he was the expert, so I did. I could smell it faintly through the gas mask and it smelled distinctly like cheap American fast food.

"What the hell was that stuff?" I asked Thorn, not trusting Cal to give me a straight answer.

"A chicken nugget smoke screen." He simply answered. "Cal got the idea when another demigod friend of his was complaining how our scent always got us into trouble. It is magic based and hides our scent. He added the chicken nugget scent to honor his old friend." he finished explaining. Cal was one seriously messed up boy, even for a male. When he became this, well, insane, I have no idea. He always seemed like a serious character when I had seen him before. He was two completely different people.

If he can have such an attitude change, I wonder what the other pack members are really like, what is my son really like? I wondered to myself while I shot harpies out of the sky. They were everywhere, so it was more like fun shooting instead of in necessity. As far as I could tell, the shadow sphere and smokescreen was keeping the monsters off our trail. None of us Olympians may like these demigods, but they sure as hell know what they are doing. I thought as we continued to fly.

We first hit trouble just after Thorn told us we were half way to Tartarus's castle, just over the Titan castle. The giant castle was in the other direction. A golden winged figure was hovering right in front of us. It was my uncle. Lelantos, titan of hunting and air, and he looked pretty upset.

Cal kept us flying straight past him, but he followed. Soon he was perched on the dragon's head.

"You should not have come so near to my palace." he growled, since when did he rule the Titan palace, where were the elder Titans?

"Your palace, what about the other Titans, they can't be too happy being ruled by a second gen Titan like you." Thorn voiced my thoughts exactly.

"Kronos had faded. The champion of Chronus made him fade. Hyperion and Krios broke into depression and are wandering randomly through Tartarus. You know what happened to Ieptatus, foolish traitor. Oceanus is still being a bum in his palace under the sea, but I feel he will be joining me in Tartarus soon. My father, was killed by you recently, he has yet to fully reform, so I am watching the palace while he is away. I have almost every Titaness basically to myself. Bliss little boys, pure bliss." he answered with a cackle.

Kronos was faded, that was a relief, but who was the champion of Chronus and whose side was he on? Thame had said he was neutral, but fading a Titan was highly aggressive. Maybe we had another ally after all. He may be my uncle, but the way he spoke about the Titanesses was sickening. Unless we could get away from here without any fight, I was going to kill him for taking advantage of any woman, Titan or not.

"Well that's great, can you get off my dragon now?" Cal asked him with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Lelantos only smirked in response.

"Of course." he answered with enthusiasm. He may be a sick man whore pig, but we might get through this without a fight. "We can all get off the dragon now." he finished with a sadistic smile and he grabbed the dragon's head and ripped it off. He jumped back into the air cackling the whole way.

Cal jumped into the air after him and shot flames out of his hands and feet like rockets. He landed on Lelantos's back and ripped the dragon's head that was still active from his grasp before he kicked himself off Lelantos's wings like a spring board. He turned himself and used the fire from his hands and feet to slow his fall and he landed safely on the far side of the Titan castle. He drew his hammers and engaged my uncle.

Thorn and I were falling. The dragon's body fell from under us, but the shadow orb became solid around us. I heard the dragon crash and explode somewhere not too far under us, but for some reason, falling from the sky, in Tartarus, in a little shadow orb, didn't really bother me. I had a mission. I was going to get my son back, no matter what it takes.

The other Olympians might not be able to admit when they make mistakes, or apologize, or show they had emotions besides arrogant and angry. But I was not like them. Neither was Poseidon, or Hestia, or my brother. He may be a playboy, but he was just looking for someone he could love. Sleeping around was his way of doing it. He may be the exact type of man I despise, but he is my brother. He is just lonely.

I realized this while screaming at the top of my lungs while falling. When we hit the ground, instead of going splat, we bounced. Right into the Titan's castle. The shadow bubble finally burst once we stopped bouncing. We were somewhere on the upper lever of the Titan's castle.

"We have to get out of here and find Cal." Thorn told me and hurried me to the nearest door. How he knew his way around was beyond me, but I just followed having no idea where we were going myself. We just kept going until I saw a familiar face wandering the halls. My mother, Leto.

**Cal POV**

Once I got Festus's head back, I got ready to fight the Titan of air and hunting. This was going to be tough. Lelantos recovered from me kicking his back and turned to face me with an evil glint in his eyes.

"You will pay for that scrawny demi-god." he growled while drawing his axe and crossbow.

"You know it, I invented scrawny you chicken footed bastard!" I yelled back at him as I drew my hammers and lit them on fire.

He seemed confused by my bravado, but shook it off and flew straight at me, firing his cross bow. I deflected each shot with my hammers and shot a flame stream at him and torched him. His wings caught fire fast, but the rest of him seemed to be flame proof. He jumped around howling in pain as his wings burned off his back until only charred bones bits held together by burnt ligaments was left, not enough to sustain any form of flight.

"You will pay for that little rat." he hissed in pain as he retracted his wings so they were tight against his back, providing a small armor like effect to his vitals, clever.

"Bring it Thanksgiving dinner." I challenged and shot a few more flames at him and he jumped back in fear. What a wuss.

He started shooting his crossbow at me again, keeping his distance, the fear evident in his eyes. I just kept deflecting the shots and started advancing. Once I was in close enough, he stopped shooting his crossbow and threw it aside to draw another axe. He jumped forward and swung both axes down to try and catch me off guard, I simply slammed my hammers together and caught his blow. I stared at him and he stared back at me. I decided to work on a skill only Percy could beat me in, pissing off every immortal I ran into and trying to get them to kill me.

"So, you said you have all the Titanesses in the castle all to yourself, right?" I started, hoping Artemis doesn't come out and try and castrate me for what I am about to say.

"Oh yes, every Titaness and even a few demi-Titan women, and some misc. immortal women. They are all mine." he gloated, losing focus on the battle for a second, but I lost focus too. He had immortal Titan women, he might have Caly.

"Pray tell, it seems that you don't have many missing from your collection, who is rejecting the advances of the mighty Lelantos?" I questioned while trying not to barf at having to suck up to him.

"I obviously am leaving my mother, Phoebe, and my twin, Leto, keep to themselves, but besides that, Theia is loose in the mortal world, trying to live a normal life, and Rhea is still being trapped by the Olympians. Only Hades and Hestia go to visit her, and they act like they have changed their ways, they are disgraceful fools who have no right to rule the universe." he bragged with a dreamy look in his eyes, he has some serious Orion issues. Male hunters just don't turn out right I guess.

"Anyone else missing from your collection, anyone punished by the gods maybe and might still be held by them?" I asked, trying to suck up. I needed to know if he had Caly and if he hurt her, I was going to make him fade.

"Tartarus did take one from me before I could get to her." he started glancing in the Direction of Tartarus's castle. "It was some lovely daughter of Atlas that Zeus had killed for escaping. She kept crying about her lover who died for her. I told her she would never see whoever he was again and she lost it. I was about to take her when Tartarus showed up and made me stop, he took her and left for his castle. She is probably long dead by now. Pity, she would have made a great mother for my children." he said with a hungry light in his eyes.

I lost it.

Everything went red for a while, I could feel myself moving and fighting, but I wasn't fully in control. My body was on auto pilot until I had forced him to the edge of the pit. He had lost his axes and was completely unarmed. He had Caly's face stamped on every inch of his visible skin, some unviable skin would no longer be of any use to him though. Artemis would be proud.

He was barely standing up as he glared at me for a final time. With his final breath he let lose all the rage I had been feeling for 800 years.

"She is gone forever now. She belongs to Tartarus and you will never see her again. I was only the delay." he said slowly, a grin stretching across his face. He thought he had won, he had no idea how wrong he was.

"GAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGHHH" I let loose a primal scream and let out a nuclear blast. Lelantos was thrown off the edge of Tartarus and flew in uncreation. He has faded, he shall never walk this Earth again, as will anyone else who stands between me and the love of my life. I am coming Caly, nothing can stop me.

**And scene. The first half of Tartarus is complete. My life has honestly been a wreck for the past few months. My grandmother died on 6-22-15 at 5:12 pm. After her funeral service, I was completely broken. I am going to keep writing this story, but at a slower pace because I was inspired by recent events in my life to write a new story. I am going to get to a non-cliff hanger point in this story, then devote some time into my next one. It will be called, Light in the Dark. **

**I don't care if it is cheesy, I am going to write it. Thanks anyone for supporting me through hard times and extra shout out to Izzybella12 and Wade98 for being my most helpful and supportive commenters. You two are the best. **

**Happy reading -Centurion Africanus **


	16. Chapter 16

**I don't own PJO or HOO**

**Artemis POV**

I was going through the many hallways when I saw her, my mother, Leto.

"Mother, what are you doing in the Titan's castle, father told me you faded years ago?" I asked, completely confused and elated at the same time.

"We must keep moving Artemis, I get the feeling Lelantos was only a distraction to keep us from getting to 24 and the others, and this might be another one." Thorn warned me, but I brushed him off.

I stared at my mother for an answer, but I only got a blank look.

"Who are you?" she asked and my breath caught in my throat. Her mind had been wiped, probably by the Lethe.

"Your daughter, don't you remember?" I begged, my eyes watering. "I'm Artemis, your daughter. You have a son, my twin brother Apollo." I told her, the tears beginning to fall.

"I don't remember, and I think I would remember having children. My brother would have told me." she said and looked my in the eyes for the first time, I noticed something off, she had blue lines running through her eyes, just like Annabeth.

That filthy half-brother of mine had gotten here before me, he had taken my mother from me. He was going to pay.

"You have lied to me" she continued "I hate liars. Prepare to die." she growled and jumped me with a dagger. I was frozen, my own mother couldn't even remember me. All because of one person, he had almost completely wrecked my life at this point. My brother was increasingly distant since I found his pack, my father has always been the worlds second worst male on the planet, and my son was locked up down here personally by Tartarus. All I had left were my hunters and Thalia was considering leaving for some male. Life sucks during the times of a great prophecy.

I kept blocking my mother's strikes, never trying to strike her myself. At this rate, I was going to lose.

I kept blocking until my mother disarmed me and tried to plunge her dagger into my heart. I closed my eyes and prepared to reform.

The blow never came.

I opened my eyes and saw Thorn brutally dueling my mother, winning easily. He spun around, caught her in the head with the butt of his sword, and caught her as she fell and set her down gently.

"We have to keep moving, we need to find out what happened to Cal, Lelantos would be a hard fight for him unless Lelantos pissed him off." Thorn told me and started off again.

We ran into a bunch of other Titanesses, they all had signs of being controlled by Darren. He had single handedly turned the castle of the Titans into a prison for women. He was going to die a most painful death. More painful than any other male before.

We finally made it out of the castle and we were met with a sight that caused Thorn to start crying. The dragon head lay alone on the ground, along with Cal's gas mask.

**Cal POV**

I continued my way through Tartarus. Who cares I had forgotten my gas mask, I had emergency Phelegathon water. Festus wasn't important at this point. I had dozens of mini Archimedes spheres to get out of here with. Calypso was all that mattered at this point. I HAD to get her away from Tartarus.

I kept going on foot, my hammers ready. I stomped any monster in my way. Hellhound, dust. Cyclops, destroyed. Emposai, smashed skull between my hammers. Nothing was going to stand in my way. I have waited 800 years and died once already to be with her, and I would do it again.

I made my way to Tartarus's castle. It was made completely of black stone that had blood red veins going through it, probably real blood considering where I was. I smashed my way through the gorgons, minus Medusa, and made my way to the front gate.

It was a mechanical master piece, rigged with hundreds of traps and very hard to open, even from the inside. I placed my hand on it and started my work. I felt my way through the locks and traps and disarmed them.

It took about an hour, but I completely destroyed the internal workings of the gate and it opened, jammed that way for a long time. I kept going.

I made my way through the deserted courtyard and to the stronghold itself. I placed my hand on the door again and started my work. Tartarus really didn't cut any corners, there were countless traps mounted to the walls in this hallway. I got impatient trying to disarm them all and smashed the door into the hallway, knocking all the traps down.

There were no doors in this hallway. The door at the end of the hallway was unlocked. It led into a courtyard like area that looked like the prison eating area. I waited there for a while until Cyclops guards led in 3 familiar figures. Frank, Hazel, and Reyna. No Caly, but, maybe they know where she is. They are stuck in the most heavily guarded area right now, so I'll just keep looking elsewhere.

I made my way down another hall way and found it lined with cells. I smashed through each cell door with my hammers, none of them had Caly. I freed several hundred other prisoners, but no Caly. I made my way down to the second story. Again, I destroyed the cell doors, but no Caly, just another 100 or so freed immortals, some who people had thought had faded. Selene, Helios, and a few others.

I finally got to max security. There were 6 cells. The first 3 were empty, but I guessed they were Frank's, Hazel's, and Reyna's. The next one had a different set up. There was a bit of purple cloth on the floor, so I figured 24 must have left it there to show which cell was his. I threw a lock pick set onto his bed from the bars and continued on.

I opened the fifth door and saw it was a pocket dimension. Everything was under water. In the distance, I saw a large man and woman training a man in a dark blue cloak and a woman in a light blue cloak. The woman in the light blue cloak easily beat the man and gave him an extra kick. They were the champions of Pontus and Thallassa. Another two primordials we weren't ready for. I quietly shut the door. Fighting water with fire and machines isn't really the best plan.

The last door was pure white with a push bar. I pushed the door open and felt myself being pulled in. It was a black hole. I tried to fight it, but it was pointless. Black holes, despite popular mortal belief do not kill you, they are portals to the realm of the faded. If Erebus and Tartarus were trying to resurrect someone from the realm of the faded, I needed to know who. Maybe Caly was here too. I steeled my nerves, marked the door as a black hole, and jumped in. Hopefully, right to Calypso.

**Thorn POV**

Artemis and I fought our way through hordes of monsters and finally made way to the castle. The main gate was a melted blob. I was thrilled, Cal was alive and giving Tartarus, well, Tartarus.

I quickly informed Artemis of that as we made our way through the courtyard. She gave a nod of recognition and we kept running.

The door into the inner levels of the castle was smashed to pieces. Cal must have been seriously pissed to just destroy everything in his path. When we got to the dining hall, it was a full blown prison riot. I couldn't see Cal anywhere, he probably found Calypso and was making out with her in some empty cell, if not more. I gave a shudder.

"We need to specifically find Reyna, Hazel, and Frank, along with 24, they all have rolls to play in the upcoming war." I told Artemis, but she was hesitant to move.

"What about all these other people, can't we save them too?" she asked me and I sighed.

"Yes we can, but we need to make sure that we have those four people specifically." I told her and she gave a reluctant nod.

"Let's go find my son." she said with steely grit, and we split up and dashed down the two hallways. Me on the left, her on the right.

I took off down the hall way, past all the smashed and broken cell doors. I guess I know what way Cal went. There was gold dust everywhere. He might have finally broken. All the destruction everywhere certainly pointed to that.

There was no one in this wing, so I went down another floor. Again, trashed cell doors, but no people. I went down to the third level and found 6 doors. The first three had people in them.

Hazel, Frank, and Reyna were trying to get out of their cells to go join the riot.

"Is that you Leo?" Hazel asked me and I face palmed. Dominic had told them everything, even Cal's identity. Idiot.

"No, but he is around here somewhere, he started the riot after all." and they all cheered.

"Then who are you?" Reyna asked me while I busted her cell door open.

"Thorn, call Leo Cal when others are around, his identity is kinda supposed to be a secret, and the fact that he is alive." I told them and they nodded. Once Reyna was free, I moved on to Frank.

"I take it you have a secret identity too?" Hazel asked me and I sighed.

"Yeah, all of us do. If Dominic bothered to tell you guys about Leo, what else did he tell you?" I asked them and they told me the basics.

They basically knew about the most recent events. They didn't know much about the pack except we were a male version of the hunters that took in people who were hurt by the gods. They also didn't know about the primordial war that was imminent along with the choosing champions that was occurring.

"That's most of it, now let me try to find Dominic, or as he is called in public, 24." I told them and went on to check the next cell.

It was 24's cell alright. Cal had thrown in a lock pick set next to a piece of torn purple cloth. He still wasn't here, so I figured he was somewhere else, maybe leading the riot. Knowing him, he was humiliating a giant or something like that.

When I checked the fifth door, my heart stopped. It was an all-white door with a simple push bar, like in a school. Marked on the floor in the dirt was a symbol that I knew Cal had marked. It signaled what was on the other side of the door. It was a portal to the realm of the faded. And Cal had jumped through it to find Calypso. He hadn't found her and he was going to the next place he could think of. The void.

He really had broken. He had put all his chips into finding Calypso on this mission and it had backfired on him. His loyalty had taken him out of the universe. I had to stifle a sob. Cal would find his way back eventually, that I was sure of. Death hadn't stopped him and if Calypso wasn't there with the faded, then he would come back, full of vengeance.

"We have to keep going." I told the others and we took off down the hall way back to the dining room. Once we were there, I was met with the other prisoners and a tear streaked Artemis.

**Artemis POV**

I took off down one of the corridors and found three doors ate the end. I started on the Left and opened the door. All the people the gods had condemned to Tartarus over the years like Hitler and others like him, the ones responsible for mass genocide. I shut the door before I could become noticed.

I turned to the door on the right, inside was a dimension completely filled with water. A giant woman made of water was relaxing next to a normal sized figure in a cloak without a hood was talking to her.

Thallassa and her champion.

Another primordial prepared to fight against us. We didn't even have one with a champion on our side yet. Erebus and Thallassa had their champions ready and able to fight.

The girl Thallassa had chosen for her champion looked familiar for some reason. Like I had seen her face somewhere recently, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

I shut the door and moved on to the one in the middle. I pushed it open and was met with a gruesome sight. It was Tartarus's personal torture chamber. Tartarus, Erebus, and a third black cloaked figure were all standing around a figure who was strapped down to a table. The cloaked figure had his hands on the figures head.

It was Dominic, they had him strapped down to the table and were doing some type of mental torture on him. His body was twitching and he was sweating buckets.

He only had his leather pants on and his chest was covered in jagged scars and several carvings, like someone had taken a knife and decided to use him as paper. He had burns and bite marks. More scars than I had ever seen on any person ever before.

"Give up little hunter. You know they aren't coming to save you. Your mother doesn't really care about you. She even lied to you when you confronted her. You could hear her heartbeat, you know she was lying. Those in your pack don't care about you, they call you brother, but they look at you as a freak. And then there is her, there always is a girl isn't there. She is cursed you know, by Aphrodite herself. She will either never love you back or you will end up hurting her. Save her the pain. Give in, join us." Tartarus was speaking to him and I knew who the black cloaked figure was.

It was that filthy half-brother. He was trying to control my son. I wanted nothing more than to jump in and slice all their throats, but I knew all three of them could swat me down like flies. I was forced to watch in silence.

"Here are your knives, the very blades I gave you to escape me all those years ago, when I choose me to be my champion. You have only disappointed me since then. But I am forgiving. Give in, claim your daggers that I had stolen from your mother, she is nothing. Stop looking for her approval and join us in spilling her guts along with most of the other Olympians." Tartarus hissed to him and pulled out the knives that Dominic had given me.

How did he get the knives, I had them locked in the most secure chest I owned, heavily sealed and warded from all immortal intrusion. It was in my tent at the camp. But who could have stolen them.

"Break little one, break." Erebus hissed one last time and Dominic went still. He shot up from the table and ripped the restraints off. He grabbed the knives from Tartarus and held them tightly in an icepick grip. He had fought back and won, my heart swelled with pride, then he opened his eyes...

They had light blue cracks running through their normal forest green. Tartarus had won. He had his champion and my son was gone.

I sprinted back down the hallway and away from the torture rooms. I ran back to the successful prison riot, tears flooding down my face. I saw Thorn leading the three we had originally been sent to rescue alongside my son, Cal was nowhere in sight.

"We need to leave, now." I told him and he nodded. He pulled a stone from his pocket and held it up.

"Wait, where 24 is?" he asked and more tears flooded down my face. I grabbed the stone from his grasp and smashed it against the ground. A large portal formed and the entire group went falling into it. Several hundred freed immortals, Thorn, the rescued gods of heroes, and myself. My son was lost to darkness.

**And, scene. Out of Tartarus, and for some, cough-Leo-cough, onto somewhere much worse. I have gotten the first two chapters for my other story up and I encourage everyone to give it a try. I am going to be updating both stories, so the chapters might come a little slower than before. **

**On another note, I am leaving to go on vacation to Greece on the 21st, so I doubt there will be any posts while I am there. I will be freshly inspired when I come back, but there will be a longer wait. **

**Happy reading- Centurion Africanus**


	17. Chapter 17

**I don't own PJO or HOO**

**Cal/Leo POV**

I was floating.

Like, there was no gravity. I was in a long tunnel. I felt a slight breeze pushing me to the far end of the tunnel where a pure white door was next to a pitch black door.

I knew what the doors were. At every entrance to the void, there were two doors. What very few people knew though, was that the white door led to the judgment. Where faded souls were tried for all their lives whether they got extreme Elysium, or they ended up in a place much worse than Tartarus.

Once you went through that door, only Chaos herself could let you out back into the world.

The black door, didn't lead to eternal damnation believe it or not. It was a visiting room for anyone who wanted to see you. You didn't get to choose who showed up, you just got to talk to whoever did.

I floated up to the black door and stepped inside. The gravity returned to normal. I was greeted with 3 people. 1 of whom I was all too familiar with, not in a good way though.

"Gaea." I growled at her, challenging her to attack me. I had put her here, of course she wanted to have a heart to heart, not.

"Valdez." she returned in a somewhat cold manner, but her heart didn't seem into it. I turned to the other two.

The first was a man who radiated power like Gaea. He was wearing a business suit that had splayed images of stars on it. I could barely make out a few constellations.

The other was wearing a leather armor suit that had a similar design to the suit. The only constellation was one of the newer ones. The huntress constellation was placed prominently across her chest. Yes, I had figured out in was a girl by this time. She had a leather helmet with slits for eye holes and a large bow strapped to her back. She also had had throwing and hunting knives on her belt.

Ouranos and his champion. No idea who she was, but she was impressive. I could only hope they were on our side, or we were royally screwed.

"Welcome young one. I understand your dislike for my wife, but please hear her out and think about her offer fairly." Ouranos requested in a soft tone that still held power and authority.

"Fine, let's hear it queen dirt face." I told her and Ouranos's champion let out a sound that could be either a scoff or a chuckle. She then proceeded to start cleaning her finger nails with a knife.

"Well, as you know, Valdez, Erebus has started a dangerous game that started when he claimed his champion. My husband countered by claiming his own from his realm of the sky. Since then, another has been taken down to serve as Pontus's champion. Thallassa has taken a champion as well. Phanes is looking into the prospect. We are outnumbered on the front of Champions. Only having my husband's champion, 'Thame', and soon Hemera's champion as well. I am searching to find a champion myself to join the gods in this war. I would ask that you consider becoming my champion." she asked me and my mind froze. Become a primordial champion.

Like Percy, I had gotten the attention of primordials in the past, but this was a first. Anake had said I had a role to play, but becoming a champion was something else.

"Is Calypso here, with the faded?" I asked her, I probably wasn't going to turn her down, but I at least wanted to see Caly and bring her home.

"She is elsewhere." Ouranos said, distaste clear in his voice.

"The gods wronged my sister and she acted on it, that doesn't give you the right to look down on her choices." Ouranos's champion said to Ouranos, her tone bitter.

"I suppose you are correct." Gaea told her and they turned to me.

"If you are asking me to judge, I will always support Caly, no matter what." I told them and the champion stared me down, I felt like the weight of the sky was closing in on me.

"I trust the word of no male but one little elf." shew said, sounding a lot like Artemis for a second, then it clicked. Caly's sister, sounds like a hunter, has her own constellation on her chest.

"So you are Zoe Nightshade?" I asked her, my voice confident.

"How do you know my name boy?" she questioned, drawing her bow and an arrow appeared on the string, the arrow glowed with power.

"Whoa, no need to get violent, I know Percy, you know who that is at least." I cried and threw my hands up to shield myself if she ignored me.

"How is he still alive, he should be dead by now." she said, lowering her bow a little.

I quickly filled her on everything after she died. The titan war, or what I knew about it at least. The giant war, the gods betraying Percy over something small. Chaos's intervention, the hunters of Fate, and lastly, the most recent events.

When he finished telling her everything, minus everyone's secret identities, those were not his to reveal, she slapped Gaea upside the head.

"Really, really Auntie Gaea, you tried to take over the world." Zoe asked her, exasperated.

"The gods had just killed my children, I was a teeny tiny bit upset." she shrugged.

"Really, that's your best excuse, and how have you been so disconnected from the world if you are the champion of a primordial?" I asked and she shrugged.

"I never bother with the happenings of filthy males, I sometimes shoot a few from up here." she replied nonchalantly.

"Then why haven't you shot me?" I asked apprehensively.

"Would you like me to shoot you?" she asked me, raising her bow again.

"No, no, no. I'm fine, just wondering." I threw my hands in front of my face as I said this and she laughed.

"You might become the champion of Gaea, I won't hurt you until training starts." she said with an evil glint in her eyes, I am so screwed.

"I accept under one condition." I said with a pause, seeing if they agreed with my idea.

"If it is for a noble cause, then yes." Ouranos replied gently. I stared them all down and asked the question I had been asking for 800 years.

"Where is she?"

"Why do you care about my sister so much?" Zoe asked me, confused.

"I didn't bring up a part of the giant war." I told her and explained my tragic love story.

"I was cast onto your sister's island by Chione, cold hearted bitch if I ever met one." I started and Gaea snickered a bit.

"You have no idea how much she hated you Valdez." she told me with a smirk.

"Good to know princess potty sludge." I told her and she pouted.

"Would you stop calling me that, it was one time." she complained and I laughed.

"It only takes one time of appearing in the leftovers of porta potties to be dubbed the maiden of bathroom waste." I cackled, my old self showing through, then I fell silent and serious and continued my story.

"Once I landed, she told me to say I wanted to leave. I did, but nothing happened. She was pissed beyond belief that I was stuck on her island. I kept a respectful distance, I didn't want to be on her island any more than she wanted me to be there.

I started building a raft to leave and attaching multiple Archimedes spheres to the helm to navigate my way out. She started to help me bit by bit. We grew closer as time went on and when we finished the main raft with the navigation, she told me to leave. I told her I would wait longer, to calibrate the system to come back so I could set her free. It was then the raft came to get me.

She had fallen for me over time. I had fallen hopelessly in love at the same time. I knew I had to leave, but I did my work quickly. I used an old astrolabe that Odysseus had made along with some crystal from her island. I entered the search code into Festus's software. He could lead me back to her.

But there was still her curse. No living man could go to Ogygia twice. So I completed the prophecy. To storm or fire, the world must fall. I was the fire who took out Gaea. I also completed another line, an oath to keep with a final breath.

I died. Along the way, we had made physicians cure. I stole it and gave it to Festus. When we were in the airspace above Caly's island, he shot it into my arm and I came back to life. I got her off the island like I swore I would.

Then the problems started. I was flying her to Texas, where my mom's old machine shop was. We were going to start a life together. But old thunder thighs struck again. He struck me and Caly out of the sky with a lightning bolt, after he had promised to free her. She died in my arms, she told me to move on. I never did.

I joined the hunters of fate after that. For the past 800 years, I have scoured every part of the known world, barring the corners of Tartarus, for any sign of her. The closest thing I got was Tartarus had taken her from the Titan's castle. I tore through his entire castle until I found Thallassa and Pontus's champions sparing. Then I found the entrance to the void, I jumped in hoping to find her and I found all you instead. Please tell me you know where she is, I will do anything to get her back." I was on my knees begging, tears streaming down my face.

Zoe was dumb struck. She didn't seem capable to understand that a weak male had not only died for a woman, but also jumped into Tartarus and the void for her as well.

Gaea and Ouranos were looking at me sadly. Gaea was sobbing in her hands and silent tears were slowly making their way down Ouranos's face.

"If you become my champion, I can promise you one chance to save her. I swear on Chaos." Gaea said between sobs. They knew where she was and she was in trouble. One chance was all I needed.

"Anything for Caly." I told her, the tears still flowing down my face, but I didn't care, they were giving me a chance, there was no way in Hades I was going to pass it up.

"Then let the three trials begin." Gaea said and raised her arms. The ground fell out from under me and everything became black.

**Thorn/Nico POV**

After Artemis smashed the stone, we all fell through, Tartarus screaming something after us. 24 and Cal still were missing, but we got all the others. My sister was safe after all these years. Not an even trade off by any means, but all the other lost gods and such seemed happy to be happy to be out of that hellhole. We landed in the throne room of Olympus. I took a deep breath and flicked my hood up and took the gas mask off. I still held Festus's head, cradling it to my body. I set it in a shadow and sent it to Cal's workshop. If-when- he came back, he could build Festus a new body.

While I was doing that, Artemis had assembled all the gods and a council meeting began. Joy.

"Let us hear the news from Tartarus." Zeus thundered, he was slightly red in the face and his toga was a little crooked, off with a mortal probably.

"As you can see, we rescued most of the prisoners from Tartarus." I told him calmly, gesturing to the escapees, Frank, Hazel, and Reyna in the front.

"Who were you unable to save and where is your companion?" Hephaestus questioned, he must have gotten the whole machines for life and oil for blood Cal sometimes gave off.

"He remained behind on his own accord to try and save another who is probably down there, we were unable to save 24, my hunter, I will allow Artemis to enlighten you on that topic, seeing as I never encountered him on my search on the castle." I told him and he nodded respectfully. He had never had super heroic children, minus Beck and Leo, he maybe thought this was a third he had no knowledge of.

"Let us hear it then daughter." Zeus said to Artemis and she gave a stiff nod.

"I found him in the personal torture chamber of Tartarus. Tartarus, Erebus, and a cloaked figure were giving him a mental torture. It was your awful son Darren brain washing him. Tartarus has his champion now thanks to you being unwilling to kill horrible people simply because they have your blood in them." Artemis spat at him, clearly disgusted at her father.

"At least he cannot have his top weapon then." Demeter added hopefully, she was always an optimist.

"Tartarus had them. He somehow got a hold of them from my chest that I have heavily enchanted so only myself or a hunter can open it." She told the gods and they looked panicked for a second.

"So they have two active champions now?" Poseidon asked, rubbing his face in his hand.

"Three, Thallassa was there with a cloaked girl. She didn't have her hood up, but I couldn't place her face, but I know I have seen it somewhere." she told them and I groaned out loud.

"Make it four, Thallassa would never have picked a side without Pontus also having a champion." I told them and the room was Stoney silent. 4 on 0 were not good odds.

"Make it 4 on 4." a voice said from the back of the room. Standing there was a tall regal looking female. She wore golden robes and had a man striding alongside her, a cloak covering his face. I recognized him though. Thame was back. Anake along with him.

The other woman also gave the aura of a primordial. She radiated daylight and warmth. Hemera had come to claim her champion. My sister.

"And you would be?" Poseidon questioned him.

"You forget the guy who took you out in seconds, I am hurt Poseidon." he mocked him and all the god's face scrunched up in disgust except two, Apollo and Hestia looked thrilled their pack leader was alive and well.

"I am obviously the champion of Anake." he started gesturing to Anake and she gave the gods a stiff nod, the gods looked really uncomfortable under her gaze, she could cut their life strings with a flick of her wrist, so they had every right to be terrified, I was also scared.

"Ouranos has a champion and Gaea is training hers, they will come in time. I also believe Ms. Levesque, that Hemera here would like to have a chat with you." he said the last part and Hemera motioned for Hazel to follow her. She gave Frank a kiss and followed her out of the throne room.

"Does that make all you gods feel more secure now?" Thame questioned them. I laughed a bit at their expressions. They all hated him so much, if only they knew it was Percy then they would tolerate him, but it was a secret that wouldn't be revealed at least until Darren was dead. Percy had told Cal and me as much. How much longer after that, he had no idea.

"I think we all have better things to do now, meeting dismissed." Zeus tried to flash out, but Anake raised a hand and motioned for the gods to stay put, which they did.

"Doing a primordial head count now, Eros and Phanes are both expected to approach their champions soon, Aether as well. Nyx has all but vanished. This could mean anything, I feel she will be the wild card in the end." Thame said and turned a critical eye to Athena, like he knew something about her.

"That is all." he said and he grabbed my arm and flashed away with me in a golden light, a new power I guess. When we landed back in Mirage, I filled him and he gave me a nod.

"Cal is the champion for Gaea. He is being trained as we speak. He will soon be ready." he told me and I sighed in relief, Cal was ok.

"Do you know who any of the other champions are? The ones we don't know yet?" I asked him and he gave a nod.

"I think I know for Phanes. Some things keep not adding up and I think I found an answer. You said 24's knives were taken from Artemis's chest that only a hunter could get to?" he asked me and I nodded.

"Then I think I know who we are looking for. I need someone inside the hunt besides Artemis to answer a few questions though. I am going to send you to camp to question Thalia." he told my and I could see a smirk under his hood. I felt heat rise in my cheeks at the prospect of seeing Thalia, it was only for a second, but Thame caught it.

"Knew it Mr. Death breath. You have a legit thing for Thalia don't you?" he grinned. I gave him a mute nod, blushing more than I had when cupid made me tell Jason my secret.

"Go get em killer, just use protection." he joked. Wait, he JOKED!

Thame hadn't made a joke in centuries. Maybe becoming a champion was a good thing for him. But that didn't stop my cheeks from going a completely new shade of red, brighter than anything before.

"Uh, new sense of humor,you finally get to go make out with Annabeth?" I tried to throw it back on him, but he had me beat and we both know it.

"If only." he got unexpectedly dark, he was hiding something, maybe this had to do with his theory.

"You wanna tell me what happened in primordial champion training?" I asked him and he seemed to lose all color in his face.

"I'm going to bed." he said quickly and vanished in a golden light. Something must have really upset him for him to be acting this bipolar. He wasn't this bad since Reyna, Hazel, and Frank went under.

I needed to find out what was going on, for everyones sake. I went back to my room, I would drop by camp in the morning, catch up with 27 and see if I could get a good conversation in with Thalia.

**Thame/Percy POV**

When he mentioned Annabeth, my heart clenched. My theories have rarely been wrong, but if this one is right, then I have never been farther away from getting her back.

It all clicked into place though. Athena always wanted more knowledge, Phanes couldn't ask for a more devoted candidate to be his champion.

Athena had wanted to know more about the pack, she was always grilling any one she could during meetings on Olympus. She hadn't gotten the information she wanted, but then Annabeth showed up and she slowed her questions, like they were being answered.

Thalia had also mentioned Annabeth acting like she had just been rebrain washed, and I am willing to bet that is exactly what happened. And I think Athena took him to her. She was the spy in out midst, along with anyone who got brainwashed along the way.

Then he mentioned the training. I got back to my room as fast as I could, trying to keep the memory away, but as soon as I collasped, I remembered exactly what happened.

_**~~Dream/Flashback~~**_

_I was walkin gthrough Mirage, my fortress city, a perfect mixture of Greek and Roman. I went to the place Anake had told me to go to when I was ready to become her champion. The fountain in the center of the city, It had all 13 primordials on it, acting in perfect harmony to keep balance in the world. This was how the world should have been like, but Tartarus and Erebus ruined that and started currupting others. _

_I bowed to the statue of Anake, she was one of te most regal statues that I knew was very acurate to the real thing. _

_When I lifted from my bow, she was standing there, waiting for me. _

_"So master Perseus, you have finallly deceided to become my champion. Are you prepared for the trials?" she asked in a soft tone that commanded power and respect none the less. _

_"I am." I answered, trying to match her tone. _

_"Then let us go to my realm. Your three trials await." she simply stated and she opened a portal behind her walked through it. I took a deep breath and followed her through. _

_I was at a huge golden palace, but there was a problem. It was devided. Each primordial had secluded their own section of the fortress, even from their allies. It showed how nomatter what happens, distrust fills the primordials above all else. _

_Anake's section had a lushious garden courtyard sprawling out in front of it. The castle section was made of a golden brick that seemed to glow with strings flowing through it. All the string that had been cut, they went to build the castle. _

_She led me to a fountain that depicted three young beautiful maidens weilding clubs. Waiting for us at the base was a figure I had seen only few times in the past. It was one of the fates. _

_"Mother, so kind for you and your potential champion to join us here. Has he come for his trials?" she asked in a withered tone. She sounded like she hadn't had any water in years and her throat was dry and cracking. _

_"I am Clothis, weaver of the threads of life. Step forward and receive your ordeal." she said and I stepped forward. _

_She waved her hand and everything blurred out for a moment. Then everything came back into focus, I was in camp halfblood, not during a wartime, but aq peachful time. Campers were lazing around, couples were making out where they thought no one could see them. As I looked around, an all to familar voice spoke up from my right. _

_"What's up with you seaweed brain?" Annabeth asked me and I reached out and pulled her into my side. I had no idea where I was, but I was still in my new body. My deep honey blond hair that was almost brown, but not quite glowed in the sunlight. _

_I looked down at her, her eyes were only filled with love. I had my Annabeth back. The war was somehow over. What ever this was, it seemed like the best possible future. _

_I kissed her as I had wanted to do for 800 years. She kissed me back, full of love. It was like she had never been brain washed in the first place. _

_Nothing felt wrong, everything was in place. I could faintly see Jason reunited with Piper, Thalia running around, chasing Nico. Leo and Calypso were building, stopping every so often to make out. It all looked right, but why did it feel wrong. _

_My gut was telling me to be on alert. Annabeth noticed and gave me a worried look._

_"You ok?" she asked softly. I looked back at her, but she was gone. I looked around, but everyone was gone. _

_Then I saw him. He had on the black robes marked with the symbol of Erebus. His hand was on Annabeth's head. She slowly rose up and made out with him. It was my best dream turned into my worst nightmare. _

_I let out a shreik of pain and charged him, pulling out Riptide as I went. He simply dodged. I kept swinging at him, but I was not good enough. _  
_I couldn't hit him. I spun and tired to hit him again, but I hit something else, someone else. _

_Annabeth stared at me, her eyes slowly fading, Rpitide plunged firmly in her heart. _

_"Not your *cough* fault." she managed to get out before she fell to the floor, dead. I had killed her. _

_I fell to my knees, crying, holding her in my arms. She gave one last breath and went still. My world came crashing around me. I turned to find Darren, to rip him apart. To make him feel pain, but I stopped myself. This was my trial. I needed to stay calm. I set Annabeth's body down and took up a meditative stance. I took a deep breath in, and slowly let it out. _

_When I opened my eyes again, I was back in front of the fountain, but the was a new wrikled hag to join Clothis. _

_"I am Laechis, measurer of the strings of fate. Are you prepared for your second ordeal?" she asked me, I felt the real tears streaming down my face. I turned to her and gave a nod. _

_I fell into blackness once again. _

_When I opened my eyes, I was on a floating island. Far away, I could see another island. On it was a figure I couldn't quite make out, there seemed to be three of them though. _

_I tried to open a portal to go meet them, but I couldn't find a way to open one, like someone was blocking my powers. _

_I kept trying until I fell to my knees exhausted. Then I got an idea. Gods could flash travel, maybe I could do the same thing. If I was a primordial champion, maybe I could use that minor godly ability. _

_I foucsed on the island. One of the figures, the tallest one had fallen and not gotten up, the smallest one was on it's hands and knees. The middle sized one seemed to be hiding from something. _

_They were in danger, I needed to get to them. I focused as hard as I could, willing myself to be there, to help them. For a second I felt weightless, then I felt the ground beneath me again. I opened my eyes and was met with a sight I had been spared from before, but here they were. My step father, half sister, and my mother were all dieing in front of my eyes. _

_Paul was already dead, a large hole in his chest, bleeding out everywhere. I rushed to my sister's side. Little Emily looked like she was in so much pain. She was only four, she didn't deserve to be killed by the gods for something I never did, but here she was. She slowly bled out from the hundred cuts that were covering her, like she had been whipped. _

_Last was my mother. She was twiching on the ground, like she had been electrified. _

_"Mom!" I cried out to her, but she kept teiching, obviously in a great deal of pain. _

_Suddenly she went still and her eyes fluttered open, maybe I had saved her, done what I couldn't do before. _

_"My boy, my beautiful boy." she managed to get out before going still, her eyes half open and unblinking. _

_"Nooo" I cried out, I tried everything to bring her back, but nothing worked. I cried my eyes out. I had been lucky that they had died peacefully the first time. One big boom and everything was gone. Now they had to suffer cruel pain at the hands of something I couldn't see. _

_I cried my eyes out, but I accepted it. They were dead, but they never suffered. I had Nico make sure they were all in Elysium. I took a deep breath and placed a drachma under each of their tongus and said a silent prayer, blessing their afterlife. _

_I opened my eyes again and I was back in the courtyard, tears never stopped pouring down my face. _

_All three of the Fates were her now. "I am Atropis, cutter of the threads of life. Prepare for your third ordeal, it shall be the most difficult." she warned me and I fell into blackness once again. _

_I was back in the battle of Manhattan. Fighting the Titans. I watched a figure knock thier way through hundreds of monsters like they were nothing. It wasn't until they used water to crush a small group of hellhounds that I knew who it was, it was me. _

_I plowed through monsters, killing them all. Nothing stood in my way. Then I noticed a figure sneaking up on my. Ethan Nakamura. He had his poisened dagger, ready to strike. I knew this memory, but I didn't see Annabeth anywhere. I tried to call out, to warn myself, but no sound came out. _

_The past me had finished killing all the monsters and was cleaning off Riptide. I saw Ethan sneak up on me and plunge his dagger right through my Achillies heel. I watched in horror as I saw myself fall. Ethan left the k nife in my back and sprinted off, back to the Titan lines with the news. _

_I went down to myself, saw myself taking deep rasping breathes. I had always wanted to take that knife for Annabeth, but now that I saw what happens when I did, I was more satisfied for the way things went. _

_If I had taken that knife, then the whole war would have ended. We would have lost. _

_Scene after scene I was forced to watch. Time after time I died to save someone else. Mount Tam. The princess Andromeda. Multiple times in the battle for Manhatten. So many times during the giant war. The Tartarus memories were the worst. Then newer memories from my time with the pack. Every time one of them would have fallen, I fell instead. _

_But I learned. If I always took the blade, protected the rest of the world, I would fall quickly. I had to let others defend themselves sometimes. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. When I opened them again, I was back in the court yard. All the fates were gone. They had shown me the truth. What had happened was not always my fault. That death is natural. That I didn't have to be the armor around the world. I could try my best, but I had to pick my battles. _

_I looked up at Anake who smiled down from her 10 ft. tall form._

_"I take it you got the messages then?" she asked. i gave her a slow nod. _

_"Good, step forward and become my champion." she told me and I stepped forward. I felt my silver uniform ripple and change. They became a hard armor, but still light as a feather. I felt riptide glow in my hands and turn a new shade of gold. It looked like her castle did. Gold with strings of life running through it. _

_There was only two going through my blade. A sea green one with golden swirls and a grey one that hade blue flecks on it. It was swirled with a deep purple like the green one was with gold. _

_It was Annabeth and I's life strings. _

_"You have control over your own fate better than any mortal in the past, even Hector." Anake told me as I started at the blade. The blue on Annabeth's life string meant one thing to me. She had been brain washed again. _

_That is why the knives went missing. Annabeth took them, gave them to her mother, who gave them to Tartarus. Athena was in league with the evil primordials, now I just needed proof._

_**~~End Dream/Flashback~~**_

I woke up and heard shouting, the first assualt on Mirage had begun.

**Whenever I get internet access from here on out will result in posting a chapter. I will have plenty of time of the flight to write for both stories. My other is light and dark. If anyone has a suggestion for either story, feel free to advise, I have ideas, but I want to hear from you guys**

**Happy reading-Centurion Africanus. **


	18. Chapter 18

**I don't own PJO or HOO**

**26 POV**

I hate this camp.

I was only here for a week before the gods tried to have me killed and I hated it then and I still hate it. Especially the children of the log headed war god.

My job was to see if any of the Greek demigods here were the right material for the pack, but I had a few other ideas, like humiliating all the children of the imbecile war god.

Chiron announced the tests and while most campers looked exhausted. The stupid children of the war god cheered. A few looked interested, those were the ones I made note of. The Dan boy was the only one at the Triton table and I made a note to remember him.

The others I kept in mind were a child of Hermes, twin sons of Demeter, and a son of Boreas. Most of the others I disregarded at once. I saw 27 do the same thing for the Romans, but his gaze lingered on a figure in the back. I recognized her from the pictures in the barracks. She had choppy brown hair and light brown skin. Piper Mclean, member of the famous seven of the second great prophecy and goddess of heroes.

However much control it took for me to not go beat the snot out of all the Ares kids, it must take a lot more for him to not to run up to her and make out with her.

Dinner went by quietly and the night was peaceful. Come morning, all hell broke loose.

Breakfast was simple enough. I may have gotten some strange looks because I ate four plates of food, but I have a bigger body than most, extra energy was necessary.

27 took the Romans to the fields to train them and I was in the arena with the Greeks. I started them out on simple sword drills. I immediately sent all the younger children to the stands, they shouldn't have to worry about fighting yet. After a while, I sent the ones who clearly had no skill with a blade to the stands as well. There were about 100 of the original 200 left. 16 of them children of the most useless god. I watched a little longer, then sent all the Ares campers to the stands, that is where the problems started.

"What do you mean you're done go sit down? We're the best fighters in this camp. How come you get to judge, I bet I could easily beat you!" the lead one who had a spear strapped to his back and was pointing his sword at my face, most of his cabin mates agreed, but one boy in the back was groaning and had his head in his hands, maybe an exception to the rule.

"Ok then, not all of you have to sit down, everyone but the boy in the back can sit down." I told him and he got even more upset.

"You mean Cameron, the worthless brat. The only weak child of Ares. He is useless. Make him sit down and duel the rest of us." the leader spat and I groaned.

"Cameron will stay. The rest of you will sit down." the protests started again, but I cut them off. "I am sure my partner is having similar problems with the Romans. After lunch, you and the Romans who protested our judgment can duel us both at once. If we win, you sit down no complaints, if you win, you can continue training. Got it." I made sure they understood before they trudged off. Cameron stayed behind, looking a little confused, but he fell into line.

There were 85 of them now and I kept upping the skill of the techniques that were performed. I got the group down to 50 before lunch. All the ones I had noticed before were still there, Cameron was doing exceedingly well. He might just make it.

At lunch I pulled 27 aside and filled him in.

"Same here, 20 Romans doubted my skill and honor so I called for a similar challenge. Should we announce it?" he asked and I nodded. He stood up and addressed the camp.

"To those who doubted both my and 26's judgment, go to the volley ball courts to prepare for your duel." he simply said and 35 disgruntled Romans and Ares campers trudged off.

27 sat back down, but I caught him staring again.

"You gonna talk to her dude?" I asked him and his shoulders sagged.

"Thame said I could only reveal myself if shit hit the fan. I know I have no chance unless I do so I am completely stuck. He never said anything about her recognizing me though." he muttered like Thame might somehow hear him from Primordial training. I have no idea who that guy is, from what I know, only a few members do. He sure as hell can dish out some serious punishment for screwing up though.

"At least you have a way, better than nothing." I told him with a pat on his back.

"Thanks 26."

"Call it even for what happened in Boston." I said and he chuckled

"You will forever owe me for Boston." I could practically hear the smirk on his face.

"Whatever, now let's get ready to duel, should I use my extra advantage?" I asked him, he was technically higher than me in rank and I had to ask permission, but I was going to anyway.

"Only if you have too, not before." he said, going back to staring at Piper.

"Fine. I told him and got up to go to the arena.

After about an hour of 27 and me waiting, the idiots who questioned us came marching into the arena, their heads held high, pompous brats.

"When we win, I expect us all to be given high positions in your order, general at least." one of the scrawny romans said, sticking his nose in the air. I almost fell over laughing, this guy could barely stand in his armor, much less wield his sword correctly.

"And when you lose, you will resume your normal schedule and not pester us for another chance." 27 responded in an icy tone. He may be Roman, but he HATES the politics.

"Deal." the midget said and they all drew their swords. 27 pulled out his gladius and I pulled out my axes, this was going to be so much fun.

**Piper POV**

I watched as the morning training took place for the Greeks, I didn't trust myself around the Romans to not cry. That 27 guy was a little creepy, he always looked at me when he thought I wasn't looking, not cool. I thought it was Jason at one point, but he seems to be a little too stalkerish to be him.

The hunters have basically locked themselves up in their cabin since Lady Artemis is off doing something else. Thalia seems extremely distressed, like she was in extreme inner turmoil. I hope it gets better for her at least.

I knew the Ares campers were going to cause trouble, and they did, but challenging what appeared to be a highly skilled warrior to a duel, was incredibly stupid. Clarisse would be ashamed at her siblings for even trying. She was one of the only good children of Ares.

And stupid brain because here come the water works.

I cried a little in my lonely cabin and then went to lunch. Some Romans and Ares campers disagreed so they challenged the cape people to a duel. I walked down to the arena where the challengers and the cape people had their weapons drawn. It seemed a little like my vision in Katropis, except the bigger one, 26, didn't have four arms.

27 drew a gladius and 26 pulled out twin axes, 26 twirled his axes expertly and for a second, it looked like there were four axes, not 2, trick of the light I guess.

The Ares campers charged, the Romans marching behind them in a shield wall. The two caped guys separated and charged themselves. 27 taking the Ares campers, 26 on the shield wall.

When 26 hit the shield wall, he went through it like a bowling ball. Romans scattered and dropped like flies. He bashed some of them with the flats of his axes and they were knocked out.

At the same time, 27 was sliding his way through the charging Ares campers, he would stab as he slid past their charges. A few went down, but the others circled back to the Romans and they groups circled the pair of them. 26 twirled his axes and laughed.

"Is that all you got, no wonder the camps need our help, you guys suck!" he taunted and all the campers charged them.

26 took the brunt of the attack while 27 covered his back. That's when I saw it, 26 DID have four arms and 4 axes, he had some kind of mist covering over them and was knocking campers out of the way like they were ragdolls, and he fought like a Titan. This was the scene from Katropis, the last one would be coming in time, I need to warn Chiron.

The remaining few campers backed up, only five of them left now. Three pulled out bows and arrows and aimed at the pair.

26 stepped aside and 27 pointed his sword right at them. When the archers fired, his gladius shot out a blast of blue arc lightning that not only knocked the arrows out of the air, but continued onto the archers and they went flying back, landing with a nasty crack on the back wall.

It was only two on two not, the skinny Roman and the head Ares camper.

"Had enough yet?" 26 asked in a mocking tone, he was obviously enjoying himself.

"It's not over yet!" the Ares dude said as he charged and threw his spear, then charging with a sword drawn. I saw 26 put away his two hidden axes and he caught the spear. With the mist in effect, it looked like the spear stopped in midair and was floating there. The poor Ares guy barely had any time to react before 26 swung the spear like a bat into his head. The spear broke over his head and put a rather large dent in his helmet. He went down like a stone and 26 chucked the broken spear away. The little Roman looked like he shit himself.

"All you dude." 26 said to 27 and he took a step back.

27 charged the little guy and I saw his sword was charged with electricity, that's gonna hurt. The Roman dude barely had enough time to raise his shield when the slash hit him. When the charged sword hit the metal shield, the Roman's entire body burned blue, then collapsed in a heap.

"The members of the Pack have won." Chiron announced, he was giving 26 a critical look, maybe he saw the extra limbs too.

"Everyone has the rest of the day off from our training, continue with normal activities." 27 said in a formal tone as he dragged 26 off the field. Those two were weird, powerful, but weird. Leo would have fit right in with these guys, and here come the water works again. I ran back to my cabin when no one was looking.

**26 POV**

"Well that was fun." I said to 27, who rolled his eyes.

"You would think it was fun." he answered, swinging his sword on air a bit.

"So how many do have left to decide from?" I asked, getting to the point.

"About 20 left, Romans are more for team fighting, less solo, I only think son of Vulcan has a shot. He has a good spirit and fits the criteria, but he needs to work on fighting, we have plenty of loose inventions around Mirage with Cal and his siblings." he said and I nodded.

"A bit more with the Greeks. Lead candidates are the son of Triton, Dan. And surprisingly, a son of Ares who didn't want to challenge my opinion. He fights calmly and extremely well, and meets criteria. 50 total Greeks, quite a bit more weeding left." I said and he nodded.

"Then lets weed them out some more tomorrow." he said and we watched the sword fighting classes in the arena for the rest of the day.

The next day, classes started again. I let the campers use their weapon of choice today and split them into groups based on that. There were 20 sword fighters, 20 spear fighters, 5 archers, 3 with knives, Dan used a trident and Cameron used spiked knuckles and arm bracers.

I grouped Cameron and Dan together for the drills, put the knife users with the archers, and the sword and spear fighters had their own groups. I turned up the intensity of the moves to max and only a few could do it.

By lunch, none of the Archers or knife fighters or archers were left and only 4 spear fighters and 6 sword fighters. Cameron and Dan both had their weapon work down.

I met with 27 at lunch. He had 10 left to my 12. We agreed on the next test and informed the remaining campers that the groups would combine after lunch. Only the son of Boreas from my initial look at the campers was left, the son of Vulcan also was in the ring.

"Everybody, find a partner for sparing." 27 shouted and they paired off. Once they had paired off, making sure no one was facing someone using the same kind of weapon, I threw the curve ball.

"Now switch weapons with your partner." I said and was met with some protest. Cameron gave traded his bracers and knuckles for a spear and Dan switched his trident for a gladius with a Roman.

"Begin!" 27 called and the sparring began. We didn't really care about who won, but how well each person knew their own weapon's weakness and how to exploit it. As well as who would brag when they won. All the romans were failing miserably, they either fell apart, or they were sore sports. The only two Greeks, besides Cameron and Dan, were the Son of Boreas whose name I learned was Liam and a son of Heracles, Martin, who was surpriseingly humble, seeing as the god himself was an ass.

"Ok enough!" I called and everyone stopped sparing. "Before we announce who will be moving on, is there anyone who doesn't WANT to join. We aren't going to force you into doing anything you don't want to do." I said and everyone shook their heads.

"Ok." 27 said. "The only four going on are Liam, Dan, Cameron, and Martin." he said and four faces lit up.

"Everyone get their own weapon back and you four meet us at the big house tomorrow morning, now head to dinner." I sent them off, the four of them talking. Cameron seemed a little separated. Liam and Dan were in shock and Martin was smiling. I knew we weren't going to take them all, maybe one or two.

We met with Chiron and discussed the four of them over dinner.

"All good candidates." he said with a nod. "Cameron never really got along with anyone here and has basically driven himself into the floor training, trying to get people to like him, but without any powers like other children of Ares, the blessing and such, people shun him." Chiron said grimly and I nodded.

"How old are each of them?" 27 asked.

"Cameron and Dan are both 14 and Martin and Liam are both 15." he said. We continued talking about the four of them until it was time for bed.

The next morning, we met with the four of them and led them into the woods.

"Today's exercise is simple, from here on out, you all are considered 'in', but you have to complete exercise to stay in. There are five tasks to complete, one a day. Whoever is left at the end will be taken back to the base for formal training." 27 said and they all nodded.

"Today, we have culled the monsters in the forest down to four. You have until dinner to bring us a spoil from one each. This tests your tracking. In this bag, I have cards with each monster. Pick your target." I instructed, holding up a bag.

Liam pulled first and got an Emposai. Dan drew next and got a Cyclops. Martin got a hellhound. Cameron pulled last and got the monster I had specifically put in for him, the Minotaur.

"Now go get your monster, we will be watching, but won't interfere if you get in trouble. Don't come out of the forest until dinner. If you finish before then, find somewhere nice to relax. And NOBODY is to kill someone else's monster, clear?" 27 ordered and they all nodded.

As they went running into the forest, 27 flew into the air and gave me a nod. This wasn't really a monster hunting task, but to see if they follow orders, or instinct. We had given 18 a quick iris message and he had some mist forms ready.

We watched as each one found and killed their monsters with ease all before lunch, then the real test started. Cameron was up first. 27 was watching from above and channeled the long range mist form to appear by him, just out of sight.

"HELP" a mist from Dan shouted, carrying a broken trident while being chased by a fake Cyclops. Cameron didn't hesitate, he plunged into the forest after the sound and ambushed the Cyclops from behind. He tore through it with his bracers and the fake Cyclops burst into dust.

"You shouldn't have helped." fake Dan told him, walking back to him.

"When shit hits the fan, orders go out the window." he said with steel in his voice.

"Thanks then." Dan said and he walked out of sight before fading into mist.

Liam and Dan did the same thing. Charging into help the fake others with no regard for the orders given. Martin, was another story.

When he heard the call for help, he went to go help, but stopped just out of sight. He seemed conflicted. He waited a while until we made the fake Minotaur kill the fake Cameron and he walked away slowly. He failed.

When they got back at dinner, Martin seemed shocked to see Cameron, but he tried to hide it.

"Everybody except for Martin passed, now go eat dinner." 27 said and we walked away, leaving them confused.

"But we all brought the spoils. "Martin protested, the others agreeing with him.

"But who said that was the real test." 27 responded cryptically before we left them to eat.

The next day, we met the three of them at the big house again.

"Today's task will be in three steps, now follow us."

We led them to the lake where we had three big poles standing in the shallow water.

"First you will need to get to the top of the pole and balance there we will be back in an hour. We won't be watching, but I trust there will be no foul play." I said and both of us walked off, leaving one of Cal's tiny spy cams to watch them. We watched from an I-pad from the big house porch.

Liam and Dan had made it to the top easily enough, but Cameron was having problems. He had taken off his gloves and was trying to use his bracers to climb the log. I wasn't very high, about 20 ft. above the waist deep water, but he kept slipping. He never gave up though, he made it to the top after about a half hour, and he smiled a little and balanced at the top.

Dan and Liam were looking bored and were starting to play around with their powers. Dan was picking up and dropping random pieces of water and Liam was turning waves into snow mounds and back again. Cameron just sat cross-legged on the log, meditating. After an hour passed and we still hadn't shown up, Liam started complaining.

"Where are they, what kind of test is this?" he drawled, looking rather bored.

"It's torture to leave ADHD demigods up on logs forever. The last test had us breaking rules, this one is probably the same." he said, still complaining.

"I mean come on, we have two other tests we apparently need to take, hurry it up." he continued to complain, Dan was looking ticked off and Cameron still had yet to notice his complaints.

"Just shut up Liam, they probably are on their way." Dan said and Liam continued to grumble.

"Let's just go find them, you with me Dan?" he asked and Dan shook his head.

"They said to wait, nothing life threatening is happening, so we wait." he said took a meditative pose like Cameron.

"Whatever, let's all be bored then." Liam said and continued to play with his powers.

We waited another half hour, all of which contained Liam complaining, then we headed back to the Lake.

"How was it guys? Find inner peace up there?" 27 called up. Liam grumbled a little and Dan hopped down and stretched a little.

"What took so long?" Liam asked and I grinned a little.

"Sometimes a stake out can take longer than expected, having patience can make things easier." Cameron said as he jumped down from his log.

"Exactly Cameron. If any of you had gotten off the log, you would have been out." I responded and gave Cameron a nod. He actually had a brain, which wasn't common for a child of Ares, maybe that's why he could go into a bloodlust, and he had a conscious.

"Next test will be after lunch, now go eat." 27 sent them off and they stormed the pavilion.

"We aren't going to take Liam, are we?" I asked him and he shook his head.

"He would get his ass kicked for being so whiny, we're doing him a favor by not letting him in." he answered and I nodded. He would defiantly fail the next test, maybe even last to the night one, but he would fail.

The afternoon test of hunting and catching certain kinds of birds went smoothly, but at night, when they were trying to do a real stake out, Liam fell asleep and missed his target.

"Sorry Liam, failed the test." 27 told him and he walked back to his cabin grumbling.

Day three was just Dan and Cameron. They sparred with 27 and I, working on teamwork and using the other person's fighting style to their advantage. They both did great.

The next day was problematic. We left them to their own devices, and they both went back to their daily routine. Cameron avoided the rest of camp and beat the living hell out of all the automatons in the arena, then he did the same thing to the training dummies.

Dan was Mr. Popular. He had people sucking up to him for being 'chosen by the caped pchycos'. He tried to be humble, but whenever an Aphrodite girl would flirt with him, he played into it.

Both were failing. Dan was getting his ego inflated while Cameron was convinced the world hated him. Cameron could still join with his current attitude, but he would be miserable in the long run. I got a plan and 27 agreed to it.

"Today will be the last test, due to some recent changes at the base, we can only accept one of you. You will have a duel until someone withholds a killing blow, or surrenders. Powers are allowed. Clear." I asked them, glaring down from under my hood. Being 7 ft. tall can sometimes have its advantages.

"Crystal." Cameron replied and Dan gave a solemn nod.

"Fight!" 27 said and the fight began.

They circled each other for a while, sometimes doing a test jab or two, to try and feel out the other's defense. They had obviously never spared against each other before.

That cycle ended when Cameron blitzed in and tried to get in under Dan's guard, but Dan blocked the punch and moved back out of range.

Dan took his charge and tried to spear Cameron with his trident. Cameron ducked and caught the two outside prongs and threw Dan to the side. Dan fell, but managed to keep a hold of his weapon. Cameron charged again before Dan could recover and got in a savage blow on Dan's helmet.

A loud gong like sound echoed through the arena as Dan stumbled back, his nose broken, his helmet dented and was clearly dizzy. He took his ruined helmet off and threw it at Cameron, forcing him to roll out of his next attack.

Cameron went on the attack again, but Dan was ready this time. He dodged a fist and swung his trident at Cameron's chest. Cameron intercepted his swing with his bracers in an X and sliced the head clean off the trident, leaving Dan with just a shaft.

Without the worry of being stabbed, Cameron went feral. He swung punch after punch, each one either breaking off another portion of the shaft, or landing a bone breaking blow to Dan.

After a few minutes, Dan was on one knee and out of breath, clearly in pain. Cameron was also breathing hard, but was definitely in better shape.

Cameron placed one of his bracers on Dan's neck and asked, "Yield?"

"Try again." Dan growled, throwing sand into Cameron's face and rolling out from under the bracer.

Dan reached into his pocket and pulled out a white shell. He threw it at the ground and a large water spout erupted from where it hit, pushing Cameron back a little.

Dan formed the water into another trident and attacked again. By this point, most of the camp was watching in awe at the two fighting.

Cameron spun away from one of Dan's stabs, but missed the shell Dan had pulled from his pocket. Cameron was thrown back into a wall as the water hit him. Dan quickly controlled all the new water and used it to hold Cameron to the wall. Dan leveled his water trident at Cameron's face.

"Surrender?" Dan asked innocently, smirking all the while.

Cameron didn't respond, but instead dove his head under the water and kicked off the wall and tackled Dan down. He pressed both of Dan's hands down with his feet and held both bracers to his throat.

"You're done Dan, just give up." Cameron growled but Dan growled.

"Guess plan B it is." he said and he exploded in a deep blue light.

**Pretty boring, I know, but I wanted to do some character building for 26 and the pack as a whole. The end is really the only plot point I added in. I do apologize for making you guys wait so long for this rather boring chapter, but island hopping around Greece with hardly any time to write and no Wi-Fi does have its effects. The next chapter will have more action, promise. Shit is about to hit the fan big time. **

**Happy reading-Centurion Africanus.**


	19. Chapter 19

**27 POV**

I watched in horror as Dan exploded in a deep blue light, vaporizing Cameron in seconds. His clothing began to change too. His camp attire changed into a flowing deep blue robe with a blue armor underneath. His hair was pulled back in a dreadlock ponytail and he had glowing blue tattoos on his arms and face.

He reached his right arm out and the water vapor formed out of the air. It swirled for a few seconds before solidifying into a bow. It blue glowed like he did and the string was an ethereal black shade. The bow and trident heads on either side so it could be used for melee attacks as well.

Once the bow had finished forming, he shot the bow straight at Peleus and a blue streak shot from the bow at impossible speeds. Not only did the shot go straight through the dragon's hide, it continued on and blew up Thalia's tree too.

Only a few people could have that kind of power, we had a wolf in the herd this whole time.

"Everybody evacuate, we need to get to Olympus!" I shouted and drew my sword, preparing for a fight that would probably kill me.

"Why, what's going on?" Chiron asked from my side, still in awe at the glowing figure shooting building with his bow.

"That's a primordial champion, Pontus's by the look of it. A primordial could easily defeat half the Olympian council. Maybe the whole council depending on which champion." I told him and his face drained of all color.

"Then it's my job to distract him long enough for the heroes to escape." He said and drew his bow.

"I can't let you do that, my boss would have my head." I told him and he gave me a confused look.

"Thame? Why would he care what happened to me?" he asked and I grinned, even if he couldn't see it.

"Most of us were at camp at one point. You were usually the only one who cared about us. So our group as a whole owes you, my turns to pay it back." I said and jumped into the arena with someone who could kill me with one shot from his bow, probably his primordial symbol.

Chiron started evacuating the campers. Good thing they don't have an army attacking right now, thigs would have gotten ugly.

"So what's up?" I asked him and he turned on me.

"So, you are the first sacrifice to the future world order?" he asked and I shrugged.

"If you mean sacrifice myself to save others from you and your bug zapper, then yes." I said and he cackled evilly.

"Foolish child, I am an ancient demi-god, far more powerful than a normal one even without my primordial powers. I shall have my revenge on the gods for killing me!" he shouted at me and started shooting his bow of blue glowiness at me again.

"So, care to tell me a little bit about yourself, your evil master's plans, anything like that?" I asked and he laughed again, stopping his barrage so I could catch my breath. I needed to take this guy out, but how. Then it hit me, a plan worthy of Percy formed in my mind.

"I am the only son of Poseidon to master the bow, I am the hunter and breaker of maidens, I can see even when blinded, I AM ORION! Master of the seas and hunt, and I will slay you puny demigod.

Well that screws up my plan. Orion was blinded in his sleep and learned to use water in the air to see. So that takes blinding his with a big light out of the question.

I tried to shoot him with some of my bigger lightning bolts, but he used the water to direct them away from himself. I started a thunder storm and tried to hit him with my best bolt, but he used the rain and shot it at me.

The bolt caught me right in the chest and threw me across the arena. The bolt itself didn't hurt, but being thrown into a wall at high speeds did, a lot.

I slowly tried to get up, but I could feel several broken ribs and my left ankle was writhing in pain.

I got to my hands and knees when I felt cold metal resting on my neck.

"So you are to be the first causality in this war. Good bye puny demigod." Orion said and lifted the trident head to decapitate me with, but the blow never came.

I gathered the strength to look up and I saw someone I was more than happy to see, Cal.

His robes had changed from their normal red. Now they were an obsidian black with red veins like lava running through them. His hammers also had lave veins going through them. They glowed with a brown aura and a tint of red.

Somehow, Cal had gone and made himself a primordial champion.

"So, primordial champion huh?" I asked as he helped me into a sitting position.

"Yeah, not what I expected when I jumped into the void." he responded nonchalantly, but my jaw dropped.

"You did what?" I asked, making sure I heard him correctly.

"I jumped into the void, but it's no big deal, I'm back aren't I? He said and handed my some ambrosia.

"You have no self-control." I told him and popped the ambrosia into my mouth and felt it slowly start fixing my ribs and ankle.

"I got this clown, when you can walk again, go help 26 evac the campers to Olympus." he told me and turned back to Orion, who was slowly getting up, Calypso's face burned into his side.

"Finally, a challenge worthy of my time, let us settle this fellow champion." he spat at Cal and started shooting his bow at him.

Cal started manipulating the Earth, turning it into magma and using that to get in close to Orion.

I felt my ankle heal fully, so I got up and ran to find 26.

I found him at the remains of my sister's tree, herding the campers into the vans that some of the Hecate children enchanted to fit way more people than they were supposed to.

"Well, you got your wish, shit hit the fan." he joked with me and I rolled my eyes.

"How many have we lost?" I asked the question no one wanted an answer to.

"About 50 total, mixed Greeks and Romans. Most died from flying debris." he grimly responded.

I nodded and scanned the faces to the immortals staying at camp to help evac, but I couldn't see Piper.

"Chiron, where's Piper?" I asked him and he glanced at me, honestly a little surprised to see me alive.

"She must still be in her cabin, and who is fighting the primordial champion now that you're here?" he asked and I grinned a little.

"We do have champions of our own, but I'm pretty sure camp is going to be trashed by the end of this." I said, as a huge wave sparng up from the ocean and a wave of lava came up to meet it.

"Dear gods." Chiron breathed as he saw the displays of powers greater than the gods themselves at times.

"Yeah, it's kinda impressive." 26 agreed with him and I chuckled a little.

"Where's Percy?" I asked, meaning the mist form and Chiron's eyes fell.

"The mist form faded a little before the attack." he said and I nodded. If we were getting attacked here without more reinforcements, then Mirage must also be under attack. They were trying to spread our forces thin. So we had to sacrifice camp.

"I can get to Piper fastest. "I told them and took off, straight to her cabin

"Why is he so excited? He's flying into a disaster zone?" I heard him ask 26, but I didn't hear 26's response over the raging storm.

I kept flying through what looked like nature fighting itself. Lava and water slamming into each other if great waves, leaving really interesting obsidian formations.

I flew right to Piper's cabin and knocked on her door. I don't know how she heard me over the storm, but she opened her door cautiously, holding her knife tightly.

"What do you want creeper?" she asked me and my breath caught in my throat. Now exactly how I pictured our first time talking in several hundred years.

"You need to get out of here, two primordial champions are duking it out over by what's left of the arena." I told her and she gave me an evil eye.

"How do I know you're not lying." she asked and I almost yelled in frustration, since when did she not believe me, oh wait, I still had my hood on. Now to find the right moment.

"I think the waves of lava and water trying to kill each other is proof enough." I said, but she still didn't believe me.

"And how do I know you're really on my side, you could be evil, I don't even know who you are." she accused so I just flipped back my hood.

"Believe me now Pipes?" I asked her, smiling a big smile.

"Jason." she said quietly before fainting. I caught her, put my hood back on and carried her out of camp as it burned behind us.

**Cal POV**

After I sent Jason off to probably find Piper and make out with her, I charged big blue, using lava as shields for his nasty arrows. I've seen firsthand what those things are capable of, and it doesn't seem like fun to get hit with one of them.

When I finally got close enough, he started using his bow like a double sided spear. I could barely keep up with him, he had some crazy skill and I defiantly had less experience than him if he was the real Orion.

Eventually, I had to go back to lava attacks because he would have over whelmed me in melee. I shot myself back from him, using the ground like a slide to get away from him and try to take out his balance.

I got away, but his stance stayed strong. I tore up the majority of the colosseum and made it into a lava wave and threw it at Orion. He pulled up the entire lake, naiads and all, and cooled the magma off, leaving a large obsidian structure like a cresting wave.

This went on for a while, one of us throwing a wave at the other, and the other defending with a wave of their own.

I was quickly tiring, being pretty damn new to my powers. Orion's waves got bigger and bigger, like he was sensing my slowly building exhaustion.

"Tired young one?" he mocked and I got an idea. I dug into my tool belt and pulled out a few Archimedes Spheres I had been working on, before turning to face him where he stood, on the other side of the obsidian all direction maze we had created.

"Catch me if you can!" I shouted to him before beginning my master plan of epic destruction.

I sprinted into the obsidian and started planting my spheres at weak bases. Orion hadn't seen what I was doing and had gone back to shooting arrows at me. He really liked his arrows.

I finally finished planting my tech when Orion finally got a lucky shot in. His arrow bounced off one of the obsidian walls and caught me in the back of the knee.

I managed not to let out an involuntary shout of pain, but I knew I wasn't going to be walking anywhere any time soon.

I pulled out a bunch of tools from my belt and started to build a remote. To keep Orion stalled, I made copies out of dirt and sent them running through the maze.

With Orion busy playing wacka-Leo impersonators, I finished my remote, now all that was left was to sync it to the signal the spheres ran off. When that was almost done, Orion finished shooting the fake me's and had his bow primed and was looking for the real me.

I watched as the progress bar on my remote quietly filled up as it slowly took control of the spheres.

Once the bar was full, I put my epic plan into action.

**Thame POV**

We were under attack from a decently large army of monsters, easily 3 or 4 thousand. They were being led by a girl in a light blue cloak. Thalassa's champion. My time to shine.

I left Thorn in charge of defending the city while I prepared to have my first head to head with another champion.

Why Tartarus and Erebus sent the champion of a sea deity to a desert is beyond me. Thalassa's domains are the seas and the life within.

"So did your boss just leave you out to dry?" I mocked her and she laughed. Her laugh seemed familiar somehow, but her hood was still up.

"Here I was, expecting a stiff boring guy, but here you are already cracking jokes like human being instead of a robot like I was told." she shot right back.

"If that's what you really want." I shrugged

"I don't care, I'm just here to take out your little safe haven." she said and charged me with long twin daggers that glowed with a light blue they were made of a strange crystal substance.

I pulled my spear and deflected her first swipe and stepped back to dodge the second.

"So I'm not on your level enough for you to pull your own symbol out, pity your over confidence will be your downfall." she said and went in for another slice.

I didn't respond to that one, but I knew she was right. I would eventually need to pull Riptide, but who knows who is watching this fight.

Thorn is manning the defenses pretty well. The cannons and archers were taking out the majority of the army, only a few were even making it to the walls, where they were quickly taken out by traps closer to the wall.

I kept fighting spear vs knives and slowly but surely gained ground. Thalassa's champion growled in frustration and sent another wild set of blows my way. I deflected the blows, but I noticed my spear beginning to get chips taken out of the shaft where I had been blocking the blows. I had to end this quickly.

I jumped back out of her knives' range and shot a few arrows from my spear, but they just stopped in midair just short of her.

"So we're stopping our little dance, but I was enjoying myself, time to end this I guess." she said and raised her arms.

The sand around me reacted and started swirling like a tornado. It wasn't normal sand though. It was a white grainier sand.

"Salt is also a part of the sea, and there's plenty of salt out here is the desert." she called and sent the saltnadoes my way. Now or never.

I used my own powers form Anake and vanished.

Now I could pull Riptide safely. I drew it and stalked towards her while she was distracted with her salt attacks. I will admit it was a genius idea to send Thalassa's champion for this attack. I underestimated her abilities and that still might end up biting me in the butt.

I phased back into reality and swung Riptide at her.

I got really lucky. I managed to catch her in the left thigh. She let out a shriek of pain and I got blasted back by a sudden blast of salt. When I got back up and put Riptide away and she was nowhere to be seen. The last of the monsters were fleeing and the city looked as good as it had at the beginning of the attack. I made my way back up to Thorn to talk about the battle.

"How'd it go?" I asked him and he shrugged.

"Only one person got hit by an arrow before we took out the monster archers. Just his arm though. We still have plenty of arrows, but Cal will need to make some more ammo for the cannons and replenish the traps on that side of the city." he reported and I groaned.

"We have extra traps in the bunker, but who knows when Cal will get time off from whatever Gaea has him doing to make more cannon balls and grape shot."

"I got a distress call form 26 at camp. Turns out Pontus's champion was there all along. Cal is fighting him as we speak."

"I'll go help in a bit, did he say who it was?" I asked and he nodded.

"Orion."

"Damn, he will be tough to beat. I should probably go give Cal a hand. Get everything fixed up here, I'll go lend him any hand there."

"Before you go, any news on Thalassa's champion, that was one you had said you were worried about."

"Yeah, she can control salt, which makes her dangerous on both land and sea. She did a real number on my spear, but she doesn't have that super godly level of sword play. She seemed familiar somehow, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I know I've met her before." I told him and he nodded.

"You'll remember eventually, now go help Cal, gods know he needs if he's fighting Orion."

"Already there." I said and opened a portal and burst out laughing. Only Cal.

**Cal POV**

Everything had synced and my spheres were in place. Time to rock, literally.

I flicked a switch on my remote and the spheres hummed to life. They grew buzz saws and started to hack off parts of the obsidian maze. I pulled them back in different places using my powers to start creating my mold.

I kept Orion busy with one last wave of fake me's, but I could begin to feel the real drain on my powers.

I kept working on my mold, a design I knew better than any other. I felt it take shape slowly.

My remote beeped, my machines were done, now all I needed to do was activate it with my powers. I reached into the obsidian. I felt the life of the earth within, I brought it out. I poured all of my remaining power and brought it to life. I blacked out, the last thing I heard was a volcanic roar and a screaming Orion.

Point Leo

**I AM ALIVE. That's right I am alive, just really busy. Football season has started and school starts in a few days and I am getting ready to go back. I'll try to be faster, but who knows how long anymore. Always welcome to suggestions. **

**Happy reading-Centurion Africanus**


	20. Chapter 20

**I don't own PJO or HOO**

**Thame POV**

Cal is a mad genius. I've said it before and I'll keep saying it until it stops being true. He is a complete lunatic, but also a complete genius.

Somehow he had created a massive obsidian Olympus sized version of Festus. It had magma veins running all over and it was beating a small figure in the distance with its wings.

I feel a little bad for Pontus's champion. I mean, who the hell stands a chance against a ten ton magma-rock dragon. He kept trying to make a water avatar to battle Mega-Festus on equal ground, but Cal kept blasting his with molten slag to get rid of the water.

Pontus's champion was retreating to the ocean, taking heavy fire. He dove in and I felt his presence vanish.

"Ok Cal, he's gone, you can call off the giant Festus, impressive job though." I called up to him but there was no response. Mega Festus seemed aware that there was no more threat, but Cal hadn't shut him down yet.

"You in there Cal?" I called and the dragon set his head down next to me and opened his mouth. Past the human sized teeth, his throat was hollow. I carefully walked past the teeth and made my down into the chest cavity.

Thankfully, there were no internal organs inside the mammoth dragon. The only part that wasn't hollow was actually a large raised section about where the dragon's heart would be. I jumped to the top of it and saw something I definitely want to see.

Cal was covered in cuts and bruises. His hood had fallen back and his normally deep tanned skin was deathly pale. His breathing was shallow and uneven.

I rubbed an ambrosia nectar paste over his outer wounds and they closed almost immediately. I didn't even want to think about how exhausted he must be though. I mean, creating the giant Festus, then controlling it must have used almost all his powers, and after a fight with Pontus's champion. Cal was one tough sob.

I picked him up carefully and teleported to his room for rest. As usual, his room thoroughly creeped me out. I mean, being crazy for a girl is one thing, but Cal took it a little too far. I really hope he finds Calypso though, he has definitely earned his happy ending.

I tried to take his hammers off him after I put him on his bed, but they wouldn't budge. Another bonus of symbols of power I guess.

I looked at his hammers again and an idea formed in my head, one that might break Cal. He took the crystal for his hammers from Calypso's island, maybe he wasn't the only person to make weapons from that same crystal.

But first I had to give a report to the Olympians, Gotta keep the power hungry warmongers happy for now.

I teleported to Olympus and was met with chaos.

Campers were all over the city, it looked like most made it out alive. 27 was standing outside Aphrodite's temple in the shadows, almost completely hidden, didn't take Athena to figure out who was in there that he was so worried about.

I made my way to the throne room, which was locked again, and kicked through the marble doors.

The Olympians were all screaming at each other and poor Hazel who was alone in the center of the room, wearing her new champion get up, white flowing robes, and the spathe on her back glowed a violent gold color. She probably wasn't very skilled in her powers yet, but she looked the part of a champion at least.

"EVERYBODY SHUT THE HADES UP!" I bellowed and the Olympians all shut up and stared down at me.

"Now that you are all done fighting with four year olds, shall we attend to business?" I prompted them and waited to see which god got on my nerves first.

"What happened down at camp Half-Blood?" Hades finally broke the silence.

"The Primordial champion of Pontus was hiding amongst the campers. He revealed himself and destroyed the camp. One of my men, along with the Champion of Gaea kept him from killing many campers. While the camp was destroyed, we have regrouped here, it is also a more easily defended base seeing as Aether, Nyx, and Hemera have all allied themselves in the war.

"So Nyx has confirmed she is with us?" Athena pried, so I lied a little.

"I am not certain, but that is the rumor." I lied and Athena scowled.

"You have mentioned him multiple times, but who is the champion of Gaea?" Zeus asked.

"That would be Cal." I answered and Hephaestus brightened.

"What happened to my daughter?" Aphrodite asked, raising her hand a little.

"I am not sure what you mean, I only arrived at the camp for the tail end of the fight. Ask 27 or 26, they were there through the whole fight." I nodded at 26, who was leaning on a pillar in the back of the room, cleaning his finger nails with a knife.

"Why can't we just storm these freaks and get this whole war over with already?" Ares demanded and I could hear 26 sigh

"That would put us at a disadvantage. One we cannot afford to have a disadvantage as the odds are already stacked against us." I told him and he grumbled a bit.

"If that would be all, I am going to be borrowing Hazel for a while, she will need more training in her new powers. The champion of Ouranos will be joining us as well." I said and I was met with further protest.

"Wouldn't that harm our defensive capabilities?" Athena shouted over the other idiot gods.

"No, we can teleport and will come to your aid if need be. Goodbye" I said, grabbed Hazel's arm and flashed us back to Mirage.

**Hazel POV**

Thame flashed us off Olympus and we landed in a huge training arena. I couldn't help but gape in awe.

"Impressive, isn't it." Thame said from off to my left, working a remote of some sort.

"That doesn't come close to describing it." I answered.

"We can train you in the basics of your new powers for now until Ouranos's champion gets here, I believe she's just finishing up some business in Seattle."

"So there's another girl champion, thank the gods.' I sighed in relief, I had thought I would be the only one.

"Two confirmed actually, Thalassa's champion is also a girl, and I and pretty sure Phanes's potential candidate is a girl as well." He answered, which was a bigger relief.

"So you've met Thalassa's champion then?" I kept the conversation going.

"Yeah, she attacked with several thousand monsters while camp was being attacked. She has high level of control over her powers, but she is not as good with her weapons, her symbol of power is a pair of elongated daggers." He answered, finishing with the remote and several robots came forward in a fighting stance.

"I want you to try and use your new powers to melt the robots, you should have gotten powers over daylight, and enhanced senses and strength during the day." He said and I nodded, I had been feeling stronger during the day.

"Another advantage is your powers works on a chronological cycle. Unlike Aether's champion, who only has power when its day time." He added and I nodded.

"So let's see those power work." He motioned to the robots and I focused on the sunlight, but they wouldn't melt, I started to sweat from the concentration, but still nothing happened.

"Damn, why isn't it working?" I complained after an hour of trying.

"You probably weren't meant to have that direct power then, try melting the metal of the robots and keeping it super-heated." He spitballed, and this time I did it in a heartbeat.

"See, practice with the metal as often as you can, be creative with, we don't have any limits to what we can do." He advised and I nodded.

"Teaching up the rookie then Thame, looking good from here." A gruff voice called from the side.

It was a girl in a deep blue parka. She looked a little like Artemis, but she had long black hair and she had a Persian skin tone. Her eyes were a harsh deep blue, almost black, with a few white specks. She had a bow that looked like it was made from the stars themselves strapped to her back and a belt full of throwing knives and other hunting tools.

"Yes I am Zoe, think you could assist her by giving her a light spar, test the waters." Thame suggested and the Zoe girl nodded. She pulled out some wicked daggers from the ends of her bow, also made of stars, and got in a ready stance.

I drew my spatha and prepared my defense. She would probably be focused on speed and agility, using her two knives to my one sword to her advantage. To win I needed to use catch her off balance and use strength.

I gave the first offensive after a few minutes of circling and she deflected the blows just like I thought she would. Then she took her turn on the offensive. She was faster than I first thought and she used the throwing knives on the belt to her advantage, I ended up getting a shallow cut on my arm. I aimed a kick at her legs, but she gracefully jumped back, flicking a pair of throwing at me as she went.

I was going to duck the knives, but I remembered what Thame said, be creative. I held my non sword arm out and melted the daggers down before they reached me. I reformed the metal into smaller metal spikes and sent them flying back at her.

She avoided most of them, but got a scratch across her calf.

"I like it rookie, but that's not all I got." She laughed and pulled her bow off her back. As she drew the bow string back, Thame stepped in and called the spar off.

"I think that's enough for now. I'm going to go get Cal, Zoe, take Hazel to the meeting room, we need too plan our next move, despite what I told the gods, we need to take action." Thame said and he walked off.

"What's with him?" I asked Zoe and she shrugged.

"Well, aside from the fact that he is really paranoid and a male, not much." She answered.

"So he doesn't even trust you with his identity." I asked and she shook her head.

"I am fairly certain the only ones who know who he is are Apollo, Hestia, Cal and Thorn."

"Do you know who Cal and Thorn are?"

"No, but I think a few pack members do. They have been helping the gods secretly for centuries, if this is what they want to deny recognition, then so be it." Zoe led me into a white marble building that looked a little like the senate building. Thorn was waiting for us by the entrance.

"Thame asked me to sit in with you guys until he got back, Cal really didn't want to get out of bed."

"Ok, never got to thank you for saving me from Tartarus, so, thanks." I said awkwardly, but he brushed it off.

"I only went down again for support, Cal and Artemis were the ones with personal missions, which both failed."

"Was Cal looking for Calypso?" I asked and Thorn nodded.

"Though why you are still using his code name when you know who he is still confuses me." Thorn jabbed back and I blushed.

If Leo wants to keep it a secret, then I'll help him keep it." I answered and Thorn nodded.

"I assume Reyna and Frank are doing the same?"

"Yes, we agreed on that already." I answered and he nodded.

"Then I guess you can handle one more secret sis." He said and flicked off his hood. Below was a scarred mature face that looked the part of going through Tartarus three times.

"Nico!" I yelped and gave him a flying hug.

"Good to officially see you again too Hazel."

"So who was looking for my sister?" Zoe asked and I finally pieced it together.

"Wait, you're Zoe Nightshade, right?" I asked Zoe and she nodded.

"Wow, Percy was right, you really are intimidating." Zoe chuckled at that.

"I am still waiting to see him around here somewhere. He is one of the few good males in the world."

"Yeah Nico, where is Percy?" I asked and he shifted uncomfortably.

"He's probably asleep, he does that a lot now that he's retired, and look, there's Thame with Leo." Thorn quickly changed the subject, pointing at Thame who was dragging a half asleep Leo behind him by the hood.

"We all knew this was Leo, right?" Thame asked and we all nodded. Nico looked like he was trying to keep from laughing.

"Yeah." I nodded and so did Zoe.

"Can we just get planning" Leo yawned, clearly drained.

"Yeah, then you can get back to making out with a photo of Calypso." Thame said as he dragged him into meeting house.

"So how bad is it really?" Nico deadpanned, getting right to business as the 5 of us sat at a table.

"Tartarus is mobilizing his forces, we believe he will strike at Olympus itself. He's going to need people on the inside though. I am almost certain Athena is being watched over by Phanes to be his champion, it all aligns with that. Another thing is that the hunt is compromised. Annabeth Chase has been brainwashed again and has been forced into the hunt by Athena. Erebus is staying in the shadows for now, but he is probably planning something nasty, and from the looks of it, someone from the void is helping him based off what Cal has told us." Thame laid it all out to us, including live footage of an army assembling under a blood red cloaked figure wielding twin bone knives, even though it was a video, I could feel the evil coming off the blades.

"Any good news?" I asked hopefully. Thame didn't disappoint there either.

"Nyx is 100 percent on our side, I lied to the council to throw Athena off Nyx's trail. Eros is going to approach his champion soon and Aether is training his right now. Chaos has her forces ready to deploy at a moment's notice on top of that, just a small force, but enough."

"Do we know who Aether chose yet?" Zoe asked

"Not yet, but he said he will deploy him if Olympus is attacked."

"So it's another stupid male."

"Yes Zoe, it would appear so."

"How do you know all this?" I asked, and I saw Thame's grin for a second under his hood for a second.

"Champion of Anake, I can see into the future like Apollo, but more defined, not prophecies. I get images instead of riddles. I trust all the info shared in this room will stay here?" he pointed that last part at me.

"Of course." I nodded and he got up to leave.

"There's nothing we can do now but wait, when Tartarus finally strikes, we'll have him out numbered, then we take him out while they're still recovering. Zoe, show Hazel to her room, time for some sleep, or lip practice for Leo."

"Not cool dude.' Leo grumbled, walking slowly back to a large apartment looking building, Thorn was heading there too and Thame was going to a cabin by the walls.

"Time for sleep Hazel, let's go crash." Zoe directed me to a flat and as soon as I saw a couch, I just passed out.

**No real big news for now, just big thanks to all my followers out there, I'll try to be better about posting faster. More action coming up, needed a regroup chapter. Any suggestions are welcome. **

**Happy Reading –Centurion Africanus**


	21. Chapter 21

**I don't own PJO or HOO**

**Athena POV**

I kept working on the pack, I thoroughly interrogated Chiron and some other campers on what happened at the camp. From what I could piece together, the worst of the sea slugs had been saving all of Barnacle butt's children, and I had thought my curse of constant monster attacks from infanthood was doing that.

Another thing I learned was that 26 had a deep hatred for everything to do with Ares, not that I can blame him, the war thug is the second dumbest Olympian, only to the fat drunk.

The biggest news, however, was I had finally figured out one of their identities. Chiron said 27 had gone to get Piper during the attack. And from Thalia, that he was a son of Zeus that had somehow absorbed some of my father's bolt's power. It would seem my lost brother Jason has been found at last, I never did like him. I set his quest up to fail to get rid of all those pesky hero gods all those years, it was one Hades of a victory if you ask me.

Now I was on my way to find him and force him to spill on the others. Preferably Cal, seeing as he was now not only a primordial champion, but I could use him to get to Thame.

Thame is going to be my ultimate prize. A secret to all the gods except the ones he choose. He was the ultimate mystery, one I have to solve. Whenever I think about him, I feel my inner drive as the only goddess of wisdom to solve him. I am certain Artemis has more info on him, but my poor sister is a little broken right now, out of it really. I wonder if Darren snagged her under his control too, I'll ask him later when he comes to re-up Annabeth's _cooperation medicine_.

Annabeth has been giving me all sorts of info on the pack's inner workings. Their ques and minds, their guard rotations, and other things they kept hidden from the Olympian council as a whole. Like the significance of the different colored armors and cloaks.

I found 27/Jason lurking in the gardens with 26.

"Chiron has asked for your assistance in controlling some of Ares's children 26." I tried to get rid of him, but he shrugged me off easily.

"Not possible, I put them all in the infirmary this morning." He responded gruffly which caught me by surprise, how deep his hate for Ares went was still unexplored ground. Time to delve deeper.

"Mar's then, I really can't tell the difference between the two, they all are mindless brutes."

"If you wanted a word with my brother alone, you could have just asked, Mar's children have been in the infirmary for the past two days." He quietly walked away, his purple cloak turning a corner and disappearing from view. I dropped the bomb.

"Cut the act brother, I know it's you under there Jason Grace." I growled and in response he flicked off his hood.

"I figured it was only time and it makes sense you knew it was me Athena."

"You are Roman, but you address me as a Greek, why?"

"You are in your Greek form. Unlike all other Olympian groups, the pack isn't Greek or Roman specific."

"Do you have any of my children in your pack?"

"Maybe." He evaded, but I needed to press my point before the conversation grew stagnant.

"So, I believe the last time you were on Olympus, you were blasted off Olympus for trying to steal the master bolt and leading your fellow quest members to their deaths, except McLean, who I take is still recovering from the shock of you revealing yourself to her."

"I was framed by Hercules, you of all people should know that."

"I find your argument unconvincing."

"I swore on the Styx about my story, how is it still in doubt?"

"You rushed the details, and your mentioning of a Santa man in a golden bathrobe is a humorous lie, one of the best told in the past millennia."

"I told all the gods when Hercules dragged me back to Olympus. I watched the golden Santa tell him what to do, he was going to kill me like Reyna, Frank, and Hazel, but he framed me instead, do you really think Hercules is smart enough to think of that."

"No, which makes you stealing the bolt and Hercules catching you much more convincing. How you survived the blast is a mystery to me though, care to tell?"

"Not particularly."

"Then how about sharing the identities of your higher ups, like Cal or Thorn?"

"They have you stumped, don't they? You don't even know where to start with Thame do you? You just see them as prizes and you're going to threaten to tell everyone who I am if I don't tell you what I know won't you? Here's the thing, I don't care. Piper woke up today and spilled to Aphrodite, who is going to tell everyone at the next meeting. I have new orders as of an hour ago. I'll probably never see you again. So no, I can't tell you anything. Better luck next time."

With that, he pulled his hood up once again and left the garden. So much for that lead. The pack was probably the best organized and run team in the history of the gods, it's like they could plan for a future no one but them knew.

And Thame was at the head of it all. Despite being their Patron god, I doubt either Apollo or Hestia affected the daily life of the pack. I needed to up my game to beat him. The whispering in my head that had been giving me ideas spoke to me again. An offer I couldn't possibly refuse. I felt a large smile stretch across my face.

I flashed out to the chosen destination, ready to finally get what I have deserved for so long.

**Thorn POV**

After the meeting of four people who all out trumped me in power by a landslide was over I crashed in my room, thinking about what I had done since I gone out of Tartarus, a fat load of nothing with a side of sleeping, and to top it off, some wondering if Thalia managed to piece together who I was with all the clues I had been dropping. Both Jason and I were both going to try and drop hints to Piper and Thalia and I think it was working.

I don't know if Thalia suspected him yet, but I knew she was onto me and the shadow travelling was probably the final giveaway. I have no idea how he was doing with Piper, but he probably went full out and showed himself to her when the camp was being attacked.

"You awake Thorn?" Thame called from the door way to my room. I hopped out of bed and met him in the hallway, no sleep for me I guess.

"Jason showed himself to Piper, and now the gods know, I'm not sure what their response is going to be yet. I'm pulling 26 and Jason out of Olympus for now, I want you in the shadows, regardless of what happens, if we need to evac, remember the priority list, Nyx and Eros's prospect champions first, you follow Eros's and I'll follow Nyx's. Clear?"

"I know Eros wants Reyna for his champion, but who does Nyx want?"

"You'll see. Another thing, Aether's champion will be on Olympus for the foreseeable future. Him and Hazel should be enough defense there for now champion wise."

"Sometimes you go overboard with your mysteries, you know that right _Thame_."

"I have been doing some work, I may show myself to the other champions soon, if a deal I made long ago pulls through soon that is."

"And that deal would be…"

"I don't retire and fight in this war, for my original body, with Chaos's blessing of course."

"Sounds about right, considering you and everything."

"Whatever, we're heading to Olympus now, 26 and Jason are already back."

"Lets go then." I nodded and we flashed off to Olympus.

**Poseidon POV**

Ever since the pack has been discovered, my entire life has been a mess. I finally knew where Percy was, that he was safe and alive. That he was in the same room as me for a period of time without trying to attack me for what I allowed to happen. It was all my fault, I don't care what anyone else says.

When the Darren brat was released from my servitude, he vanished, I probably should have killed him years ago, but he learned his lesson, that's for sure.

Aphrodite had called a council meeting, which is the second rarest god to call one, first being Dionysus, lazy bum had no right to replace my sister on the council.

As we all entered the meeting room, A yellow cloaked man was leaning on a pillar at the edge of the room. There was a powerful aura radiating off him, He was probably some champion, Aether maybe. He didn't look like much though, skinny as a tooth pick, I could practically see his ribs under all his finery.

There was another aura filling the room, but it was muted, like it was trying to stay hidden, It was whispering to me, strange thoughts, I brushed it off as my mind playing tricks on me, I haven't slept right since that Thame guy drop kicked me.

Once we were all seated, Zeus called the room to order and called for our guest. Thame walked in calmly, his stride full of confidence and knowing, but he wasn't arrogant like most of my fellow gods, he knew his place, and that is was above us. I still don't like him, I may even hate him, but I respect him, and I know Hades shares the same sentiment.

"What would the topic of today's meeting be Zeus?" he asked patiently, but my brother looked like he was going to tear him in half, Thame or one if the pack must have seriously fucked up, or just questioned him.

"You are harboring known traitors of Olympus in your pack, either turn Jason Grace over to us for his punishment he escaped years ago, or face the punishment yourself."

So that was what this is about, Zeus crying about his toy again, and trying to kill the wrong person again, how he ever became king I will never know.

"Jason was falsely accused by your son Hercules, he was the real bolt thief. You know they have a bad past, just simply let the matter drop and we can be on our ways peacefully."

"I did No such thing!" Hercules cried from another side of the throne room.

"See, my son claims to be innocent, what more proof do I need? So hand over the traitor!"

"He is already gone, you will not threaten my brother in arms." Thame was cool and collected, but you could feel the anger rolling off him.

"If I may interrupt, I have yet to introduce myself, I am the humble champion of the great Lord Aether." The yellow cloaked man said in a sly tone, I could already tell why he was champion despite his looks, the boy had a silver tongue, better than any I had seen before.

"If all this is a disagreement between the pack and the mighty Olympians, then why not separate the two parties. It seems simple enough and it's not like Olympus is defenseless, Both Hemera's champion and I will be present to handle nefarious champions and the great Olympians can easily defend their home." His words convinced, but Hades and I shared a look, neither of us like any of this guy. Apollo was looking at him in shock.

"I believe that is an excellent idea champion, all in favor that if Thame does not give up Jason Grace, that all things related to the pack will be banned from Olympus." Athena agreed in an innocent tone, there was some foul play here, I could feel it in my gut.

Everyone but Hades, Apollo, Artemis and myself agreed. I don't even Artemis heard what was said though.

"So it is passed, all things related to the pack must leave Olympus and never return." Athena declared and made a shooing motion at Thame.

"Goodbye little pack boy." She hissed at him and Thame spun on his heels and left without another word. This was not going to end well, I could tell.

"May I ask a quick question?" the silver tongued champion spoke up again.

"Go ahead." Zeus nodded.

"Which gods founded the pack, they couldn't have simply just started themselves."

"True, Apollo, you and Hestia created the pack no, so by the decree we just passed, then both of you must leave and never return." Athena smiled, but it never reached her eyes, it was like she had planned for this with Aether's silver tongued maniac.

"Apollo, I ask you to step down from your post Olympian god, and to our good fortune, a replacement is already in the room, my son Hercules!" Zeus declared as Apollo left the room quietly, followed by Hestia, who was holding a familiar jar, Pandora's Box. Hope was leaving with them.

I felt Hestia and Apollo's presences vanish and we returned to the meeting, Hercules sitting smugly on Apollo's throne.

"I have one final announcement to make." Athena stood and cleared her voice, like whatever she was about would be world shattering news, unfortunately, it was.

"Olympus now belongs to Erebus and his allies!" she cried and drew her real Aegis from the side of her throne, it radiated power like Thame did, almost sense numbing. Her spear was different too, instead of normal Celestial steel, it was a gray steel that made my mind hurt, its aura was more than her shield.

I quickly put the pieces together, Athena betrayed us. I tried to flash myself out, but I couldn't, the other gods were in a similar situation.

"Can't let you guys go now can we?" Aether's champion mocked and flipped his hood back. He had watery blonde hair and his face was sunken and waxy. He looked more dead than alive.

He stood alongside Athena and faced us down, three other figures coming out of the shadows beside them.

One was the figure who attacked camp half-blood. His dark blue armor was covering most of his body, except he didn't have a helmet. I stared down the face of my rapist pig son Orion. He was grinning evilly and eyeing Artemis, who was focused solely on a figure cloaked in a blood red robe.

The red robed one looked surprisingly similar to Artemis. Same hair and death glare, but his eyes were a deep green, like pine trees, but speckled with light blue. He had a pair of hunting knives made of a bone I couldn't recognize that were relaxed easily in his hands, his face expressionless to his surroundings.

Aether's champion had pulled out a small sacrificial dagger from his cloak, while it was the smallest weapon in the room, it radiated the most power.

The last was a face I knew all too well. Heavily scarred as it might be, Darren stared at me with hate and loathing in his eyes. Over the years he had been forced wait on my house, I had destroyed his face, scarring it to the point of no return. Burn and electrical scars covered the left half, almost making it impossible to see out of. The right side was covered in cut scars to form a name running down the side of his head

_Percy_

I made sure he would never forget what he had done to my son, and now I was starting to regret it a bit. Percy probably wouldn't like his name carved into somebodies face.

Unlike the others, he didn't have a weapon, but he obviously was the leader.

"Aren't there six of you evil champions?" Demeter squeaked from behind her throne where she was hiding.

"Well our last counterpart had some research to do, she may have found out the weakness of our only threat." Aether's champion said grinning

"Now you gods will all pay for the wrongs you have committed on this world." Orion bellowed and he leveled his bow at Artemis, but Darren pushed him away.

"Let Dominic handle his mother, it would be only fair." He said and gestured to the red robed man.

That's why he was so similar to her, Artemis had broken her vow and now her son was trying to kill her, and based off the blue specks in his eyes, I could only assume his actions were not his own. Annabeth had the same look all those years ago.

"Not today Darren."

**Well, shit just hit the fan. Big shout out to ReallyInfinity for such helpful ideas, you've been a big help in planning the next three chapters. Thanks to anyone who follows my stories regularly and extra thanks to all my awesome reviewers, just feeling grateful today. Any reviews welcome. **

**Happy Reading-Centurion Africanus**


	22. Chapter 22

**Thame POV**

After Aether's champion- who happened to be the asswipe Octavian who almost lost us the second giant war- finished his spiel with Athena to get rid of me and the pack, I knew Aether betrayed us.

As soon as I entered the room, I knew Athena had become a champion, an evil one at that. Octavian agreed with her, and that this whole thing was a setup. Erebus was making his move at last. Olympus was about to fall.

I sent Thorn to get any important people OFF Olympus, we needed to make sure as many people were safe as possible. Apollo and Hestia followed me out of the throne room and they flashed off, they knew what was coming too.

I let myself blend into the shadows and snuck into the throne room when Apollo and Hestia returned with the other champions. My job was to get the gods out.

"Not today Darren." Apollo called, staring down the evil primordial leader.

"Thame couldn't come himself to face me, I am offended, does he think us below him?" Darren mocked and I got my first good look at his face for the first time in 800 years. Dad definitely went all out avenging me, half his face looked like just a blob of skin with a squinting eye, the other was cut to pieces, my name carved vertically over his features. He looked like a two-face cosplayer with both sides of his face screwed up.

I just focused on my job, getting the gods out.

"You are short a companion, as are we." Hestia replied calmly, her eyes blazing like bonfires.

"So it would seem, but we have the edge in power, surrender, and we may be merciful." Athena growled, glaring at Apollo.

"Not today bitch face." Cal joked, spinning his hammer, it may have been my imagination, but Orion might have backed up a little bit when he saw the hammers.

"Then it seems we must come to blows." Octavian said, sounding slightly disappointed, he always was more of a talker than a fighter.

The talking stopped there as Cal charged Darren, trying to take his head off with a vicious hammer swing. Darren dodged easily and gave Cal a quick jab to the gut.

Cal shrugged off the punch easily and went on the attack again, this time throwing slag at Darren from his hammers. Around them, the others clashed into battles with the evil champions. Apollo matching arrows with Orion, Dominic matching Zoe knives on knives, Hestia sending a wild blaze on Athena, Hazel swinging madly, trying to decapitate Octavian, who looked genuinely afraid of her.

I made my way to the gods, who were huddled in a corner, trying to avoid all the flying weapons and random power bursts.

"I need to get as many of you guys out of here as possible, but I can only go one at a time due to the teleportation block on this room." I quickly told them and they all crowded me, except Zeus, trying to get out first. Zeus was trying to join the fight to 'get rid of the scum he just banished'.

"Artemis first, then Hades, then Poseidon, I have another few hunters trying to get as many demigods out as possible." I told them before grabbing Artemis and flashing back to Mirage.

I saw Thorn had about 15 demigods he saved, but neither of the potential candidates for Eros and Nyx were there.

"Try to grab Reyna and as many hunters as possible, skill over quantity at this point." I called to him when he shadow traveled in with a random demigod. He nodded and shadowed traveled back to Olympus.

I quickly flashed back to Olympus and saw the fights weren't going too well. Apollo had a chunk of his left leg missing, probably from one of Orion's exploding arrows, Cal had made no progress on Darren and was just exhausting himself, Zoe was about even with Dominic, both sporting a multitude of small cuts, Athena was making up ground on Hestia, but was heavily burned, Aegis was also scorched and looked fragile. Octavian was straight up running away from Hazel who chased after him, swinging her spatha in rage.

I grabbed Hades and took him to the underworld, then I took Poseidon to his palace under water. On my fourth trip, I had to be smart, I grabbed Hephaestus and took him to Mirage, but I knew there wouldn't be a fifth trip.

When I got back to the throne room, it was Chaos. Hazel and Hestia were teaming up with Cal to try and take out Darren, but neither could even scratch him. Octavian was duking it out with the Olympians alongside Athena, only Zoe was having any luck, still keeping pace with Dominic.

I turned to help the gods, but Octavian just stabbed Zeus in the skull, Athena was gutting Ares, only Demeter was left and while Athena was easily beating her, Octavian snuck up behind her and stabbed her through the back of her heart. She gave a sharp gasp, then faded into gold dust.

Octavian was a no good lying snake with no honor, ethics or even common decency to face his enemies head on, preferring to kill from the shadows, how he managed to become Aether's champion is a complete mystery to me. But he pissed me off more than most people in existence. And when I get pissed, I do something about it.

I kicked him full in the gut and he flew back into Orion, throwing his shot off into Dominic, who crashed into a wall, unconscious. Zoe took the opportunity to stab Athena in the back of her knee, bringing her down fast. Hestia gave Athena an extra kick to the face for good measure.

During all the confusion, I took a shot at Darren with my spear. I threw it as hard as I could at his back. At the last second, he spun around, round-house kicking both Cal and Hazel to the ground, and caught the spear. He gave it a once over before snapping it in half over his knee.

That hurt my pride. And my heart a bit, but I needed to focus on getting Cal and Hazel out of harm's way. I started duking it out with Darren, punching and kicking, him meeting every blow with either a block or a well-timed dodge. Then he went on the offensive. His attacks were calm and calculated, but still fast and furious.

I flipped my metal knuckles down from the top of my gloves and waited for him to throw a haymaker. It never came. While I was distracted with fighting Darren, Octavian and Orion had tried to take out Hazel and Cal. Apollo and Hestia tried to help protect them while Zoe was exchanging blows with Athena.

It wasn't quite enough. Orion shot straight at both Hestia and Apollo extremely fast while Octavian tried to get close to finish the job with his dagger. Apollo shot down the arrow that was headed at Hestia, but the other caught him clean in the gut. Hestia torched Octavian with fire, but he walked straight through it. He stabbed at Hestia, but she dodged in time and kicked Octavian back.

I pushed Darren back and ran to Apollo's side. I tried to pull the arrow out, but Apollo stopped me. He gave a sad shake of his head and fell to his knees. I could the pain on his face, the poison that must have been on Orion's arrows starting its work. The tears ran down his face and he gave me one last solid smile. His head slumped and he collapsed. His body slowly faded into gold dust.

That crossed the line. Nobody kills my friends. I unleashed a wave of pure energy that knocked all the evil champions back. It knocked a just waking Dominic out a window and into the streets, hopefully he's unconscious again. When the window broke, I could hear the screams from outside. I could hear the thousands of monsters pouring into the city from both the elevators and a tear straight into Tartarus that people were being dragged into.

"Get as many people as you can and get the hell out of here!" I screamed to everyone else and took off through the open door, carrying an unconscious Cal and Hazel over each shoulder.

**Thorn POV**

It was complete madness on the streets of Olympus. Pit straight to Tartarus had opened up in the middle of the market square and monsters were culling innocent civilians. Monsters were coming in waves up the elevators from the empire state building, but the demigods held a strong shield wall there.

I killed monster after monster while I found pinned down groups of demigods and took them back to Mirage. I found the majority of the hunters in the Olympian garden shooting down any monster who came near them.

"We need to get out of here, I can shadow travel you all to safety." I called to them and most looked at me like I was an idiot.

"We will stand and defend Lady Artemis and Olympus." One responded.

"She's already gotten out, most of the gods are dead, and Olympus has fallen!" I screamed at them and they froze, giving the monsters a moment to recover.

"Swear on the Styx you mean us no harm." Thalia asked, looking right me straight in the eye, I swear I could see a light behind them, like she knew it was me.

"I swear on the Styx." I said and the boom of thunder that could barely be heard over the monsters and demigods, battling it out.

"Can we get out of here now?" I asked and they all hopped down to my side, some more reluctant than others.

I quickly shadow traveled them straight to Artemis where they all rushed to her in a group hug. I was about to shadow travel back to Olympus, but Thalia pulled me aside.

"Annabeth Chase is still back there, but she is being controlled by Darren, find her for me Death Breath." She quickly kissed my cheek and pushed me into the shadow of a tree where I subconsciously traveled back to Olympus, my brain just about fried at what happened.

Olympus was even more messed up then when I left with the hunters. The shield wall was broken and the demigods were scattered. There were waves of gold dust flying showing that it wasn't just Olympus taking heavy causalities.

Dominic was using his nature magic to summon the nature spirits fighting for Olympus to his side, then using dark magic he obviously learned from Tartarus and converted them into monsters.

I saw Thame carrying an unconscious Hazel and Cal through the streets, occasionally stopping to pick up other unconscious demi-gods. He flashed out when he had eight people on his shoulders. Zoe was slicing her was through monsters at a rapid pace, fighting her way to the edge of the pit to keep the monsters from doing any heavy damage.

Hestia was also saving demigods, but she only got two before being forced to flash out since monsters cornered her.

I rushed through the screaming crowds of monsters, saving as many demi gods as I could, but soon the number of demi-gods was dwindling, either because they died, or because they had been saved already. I grabbed one last son of Ares who was on his last legs and made one final trip back to Mirage. The medical team was working over-time on all the demi-gods we had saved.

We had saved about 150 of the 600 plus demi-gods and nature spirits that were on Olympus at the time. As far as I could tell, only Artemis, Hephaestus, Apollo, and Hestia had survived the raid, but Thame also probably also got to Poseidon and dad too.

"What's the status of the champions and remaining gods?" I asked one of our healers and he handed me his clip board. It wasn't good.

Hazel and Cal had heavy concussions, Zoe had some serious blood loss from a multitude of cuts, Hestia was heavily bruised and Artemis was still heavily rattled.

There was worse news. Apollo was dead, faded to be exact, along with most of the other gods, only 5 total surviving major gods and a few minor ones like Nemesis and Iris.

Thame was physically ok, but I knew his head was out of it. He had seen his mentor for years get killed by a part of his own domain. It was going to be hard for the entire pack without him.

I made my way to my room and sighed. After everything that has happened, the only good thing I guess would be that Thalia pieced together who I was and seems to feel the same. What wasn't good was I couldn't find any sign of Annabeth, and believe me, I looked.

I knew both Thame and Thalia would have my hide, but I got to Reyna at least, she was in with a few healers sporting minor injuries. Frank was ok too.

I collapsed in my bed asleep in seconds.

**Artemis POV**

I was in a guest building with my entire hunt. It was styled like a hotel and we had the entire top floor available to us. I much preferred the tents the hunt usually used, but there was only scattered trees in the desert, not enough for a camp site.

My son was full blown evil now, but it wasn't his fault. I had to find a way to get him back, to make things right. To tell the truth.

The truth, the one thing I have kept to myself for years. I wanted to tell someone, but it seemed only right to tell Dominic before anyone else. But that wasn't going to happen any time soon. I went down to the medic tents that were just giant pavilions. Most people were better, but a few had more serious injuries that would require time to heal fully.

I went to check on the champions, they had fought the hardest battles today, with luck, and I could find my brother and Hestia among them.

When I entered the tent, both Cal and Hazel were out cold. Frank Zhang was at Hazel side, holding her hand gently. I didn't trust him, but he seemed like one of the more harmless males around.

Thame was talking with Hestia off to the side, gesturing to a separate room within the pavilion. When they noticed me, they both looked down.

"We need to talk niece." Hestia told me quietly and pulled me into the side room. On the bed, unconscious with a multitude of slowly healing cuts, was Zoe.

"Zoe!" I cried and went to tackle/hug my old lieutenant, but Hestia stopped me.

"She needs rest from her battle with your son. You should be proud though, she won her battle today." Hestia gave me a small smile and I returned a quick grin at that.

"You're right, but where has she been all these years, and how did she manage to keep up with my son, who just happens to be a primordial champion?"

"She has been the champion of Ouranos for centuries now."

"She definitely earned that job."

"That she did, through years of work with you."

"So what else happened on Olympus, which other gods survived?" I asked, bracing myself for the worst.

"Most are dead. Thame helped Poseidon, Hades and Hephaestus to escape after he got you out. But all the other Olympians who were there were killed, faded."

"What about Apollo, he made it right?"

"He was protecting me, when he took one of Pontus's champion's arrows to the chest. It had some kind of poison on it that triggered him to fade."

That was the final straw. I burst out crying.

**Holy smokes that was the biggest response to any of my chapters ever. I don't know if it's because I finally crossed the 60K word count, or my writing just got better. It made my day when I opened my email the next day and found it flooded with new follows, favorites, and awesome reviews. **

**For anyone who is confused, Percy's original body was destroyed by Zeus, his spirit and soul are currently residing in one Chaos for him. He will be getting his originally body back later. **

**This IS a percabeth story, I just suck at writing most forms of romance, just clearing up any confusion. **

**Thanks for all the new ideas, and extra thanks to ReallyInfinity again for the great ideas**

**Happy Reading- Centurion Africanus**


	23. Chapter 23-define love for 20 points

**I don't own PJO or HOO**

**Thame POV**

When Cal and Hazel finally woke up, I called a meeting of all the champions, Thorn, and remaining gods in the meeting building, I also got Poseidon and Hades from their realms.

"We need to discuss our next move, we are almost out of places we can retreat to, and we are outnumbered and they have all their champions."

"Who's left?" Poseidon asked, his weary.

"Just us here and maybe 10-12 minor gods, not counting the remaining gods of heroes."

"Is Apollo really gone?" Artemis sniffled, she was a complete wreck, first her son, then her brother, then her old lieutenant wouldn't rejoin her hunt, it was going to get worse for her though in about 10 or 20 minutes.

"Sadly, all the non-present Olympians were killed by multiple champions, who used so much force, they were forced to fade. I felt the ripple through the universe. All the minor gods that were killed were simply sent to Tartarus, they are most likely being held prisoner. We managed to rescue about 600 demigods and nature spirits, along with the entire hunt-"

"Not the entire hunt, Annabeth Chase is missing, her link to the hunt was severed at the beginning to the invasion." Artemis interjected sadly.

"Damn it Thorn, I told you specifically to grab her and Reyna, did you get her at least?" I groaned

"Yea, I think Eros is giving her the pitch right now."

"Why are Reyna and Annabeth so important?" Poseidon asked

"They are going to be our last two champions, But Erebus knew who his wife wanted from the start and has been an extremely close eye on her for the past 800 years. Athena snuck Darren to her just before all the invasions began, I wouldn't be surprised if that was where Thalassa's champion actually was during the attack, they seek to cripple us."

"What are we going to about Olympus being captured and being heavily outnumbered?" Hephaestus asked, speaking for the first time since the start of the meeting.

"We need to plan, they used deception to place powerful enemies within our ranks without us knowing. Mirage cannot be allowed to fall. I have done a full head count of pack members, everyone is accounted for, no extras of fakers, I suggest you all do the same with the hunters and the remaining demigods."

"How can we trust the pack, you all have those damned hoods on?"

"I was just getting to that, most of the gods who threatened the pack are gone now, while I wish this happen, I am giving an executive order for a complete unmasking of the pack, hoods and cloaks gone, along with any mist we happen to be using."

"That is against the protocol you harshly enforced, are you sure Thame?" Hestia asked,

"I was just getting to that, most of the gods who threatened the pack are gone now, while I wish this happen, I am giving an executive order for a complete unmasking of the pack, hoods and cloaks gone, along with any mist we happen to be using."

"That is against the protocol you harshly enforced, are you sure Thame?" Hestia asked

"Yes, although my face will not be anything people want to see too often." I said and flipped back my hood. I didn't even remember what hair color I had, I had gone through a few dozen bodies, like Daedalus had.

There wasn't a reaction out of anyone present, it was anti-climactic really. Just everyone staring at whatever collection of scars my current body held.

"How in Tartarus did you get so many scars?" Poseidon asked

"I am part of every mission the pack goes on. Including personal outing for Chaos and other primordials, let's leave it at that."

"My turn I guess." Cal said and flicked his entire cloak off.

As soon as the gods saw his face, Hephaestus dropped the gadget he was working on and flung himself, although he almost missed, at his Leo.

"My son. My son." He sobbed while accidentally pinning Leo down.

"Thanks dad, now can you get off me, kinda crushing me."

"I suspected you were one of mine, just never thought it would be my little hero!"

"Well that certainly isn't embarrassing." Leo grumbled as he got himself up, Hephaestus seemed to have realized he had spoken the last part aloud and had retreated to a corner to tinker.

"Quit laughing Thorn, you'll get yours next." Leo smirked, his old humor shining through his mask of depression.

"And I'll probably get it from two people too." Thorn grumbled and flipped his hood back, revealing Nico's Tartarus hardened face.

That sent Hades off the deep end just like it had Hephaestus, he embraced Nico fully, tears streaming down his face, Poseidon watched in shock at the sight of his older brother crying, which he had probably never seen before.

"Good to see you too dad, but like Leo, kinda crushing me." He wheezed out.

"Right sorry." Hades quickly let him go and corrected his poise, wiping the tears off his face.

"All the other pack members have disposed of their cloaks and hoods, we need to trust each other now more than ever." I nodded at everyone

"So what is next move, we can't just wait here for Athena and the others to attack." Artemis questioned

"First, let me explain something about us champions. We were always meant to be equal in number, 6 vs 6. That's because when all 12 of finally do come to blows, we need to match power level for power level. The standard for power level is based off the chosen champion. There are six positions on a primordial team. The hunter, the seer, the brain, the warrior, the mass destruction expert, and the leader.

Seers tend to have the least power, then hunters, followed by brains, destruction experts, warriors, and leaders being the most powerful. From what I've seen, Octavian is the seer, Orion is the hunter, Athena is obviously the brain, Dominic is the warrior and Darren is clearly the leader, he fought off Cal easily without drawing any weapon.

For us, I am not sure yet, and I won't be until our last two champions are blessed. Which brings us to our planning.

Camp is a neutral ground, Leo accidentally created a massive obsidian familiar, which has made the ground where camp once was its new home. We could go there, but I suspect it is surrounded, just not being attacked for fear of what the familiar can do.

They will expect us to try and retake Olympus. They will have all their forces primed and ready facing the elevators, it would be foolish to try and take it back. The roman camp stands deserted and forgotten, but probably watched from a distance.

We need to make our main priority to get Ms. Chase back from Tartarus, who probably has her even more guarded than he has had any other prisoner before. If we are going to get her back and level the playing field, we need to do it quickly. Does anyone have any ideas?"

"A diversion of sorts maybe?" Nico suggested, studying a map of Tartarus with Cal.

"To expected, another small group using stealth to get in and out without being noticed?" Artemis suggested

"Storm Tartarus from the hole he tore in Olympus, use everything we have in one solid defining blow?" Hades spoke up

"Maybe a mix of the three. And I have an idea." I said, thinking back to when I first learned about this war.

Time to call the cavalry.

Reyna POV

I sighed and left the medic tent first thing in the morning. Nectar and ambrosia had healed most of my wounds, but I had to keep a nastily poisoned cut on my arm bandaged for now.

Since the whole incident at the Lotus Casino, I have been thrown around by greater forces than me.

I was sick of it.

Another thing I was sick of was Venus.

After all these years I learn that that wench cursed me, no wonder I've never had anyone who I actually liked work out for me. First it was Jason, who was taken, thrown into the Greek camp, then falling for one of Venus's own little whores.

Next was Percy Jackson. Granted he probably never have liked me even without the curse because of Annabeth, but the curse could have been the only reason he remembered her in the first place so I could have had a chance.

Then was Nico DiAngelo, who, granted I never really liked too much, more so admired for his work at not only keeping the camps apart for a while and keeping peace, but at his strength of spirit during the dragging back of a giant pain in the ass statue that really didn't do much. And he just straight up died.

Now it's Dominic. He has probably been the best out of all of them, and definitely the best looking. But now he was a brainwashed evil mega powerful primordial champion, and the people controlling him probably won't give him back if I ask nicely, or bang my fist and demand for him back either.

So here I was, facing complete and utter rejection, uselessness, and an over-all lacking of hope and I sat on one of the walls of the city, staring out at the vast rolling desert.

I heard someone sit next to me, but I didn't turn to face them, I just ignored them and hoped they would leave me alone.

"I see you're having a rough day too, good to know I'm not the only one fed up with all the shit going on." There goes the not talking to me as I was dragged into a conversation I really didn't want to be in.

"Not just today, pretty much my whole life." I answered, not even bothering to tear my gaze off the rolling sands.

"You do have that look to you."

"What look?"

"The one that life, fate, and some idiotic god has gone out its way to mess with you and make sure nothing ever goes right."

"You got that right. I have at least one curse to my name, maybe more."

"Well when Olympians give you lemons…"

"Except they didn't even give me that. They gave me shit jobs, shit titles, and a shit quest that got me stuck in Tartarus for like 750 years! And to top it off, I'll never find anyone who can actually love me back due to frickin Venus cursing me for no reason." I finally vented all the crap I had been silently dealing with for years. It felt liberating.

"She had a reason."

"What reason could she have possibly have had that excuses cursing me. I never did anything to her."

"One, I never said it was a good reason, two, she was worried about one of her own children in the future. She knew that unless she cursed you, Jason would have remembered you like Percy did Annabeth, which would have broken Piper, so she made her move early."

"How could she have possibly have known that would work, or any of that would happen?"

"She had more power than even she credited herself for. She could see into future relationships for people, and if she had a brain, she could have seen the events of the future as well."

"Sadly, she never had a brain." I snorted and finally turned to face my new companion.

He had long blonde hair, pulled back in a ponytail that went to about the middle of his shoulder blades. His face was chiseled, but lacking definition. And he had great white wings sprouting from his back. He looked like an actual angel from the Christian religion, crossed with Neptune's Greek attitude.

"Not a common look, I know, but I can come in many forms, this just happens to by my favorite."

"Are you one of the pack dudes who finally grew a pair and took their damn hood off, or are you here to kill me?"

"Neither actually, just a friend seeking to share an opinion that I've decided upon after thousands of years of experience." He was cryptic, but I gestured for him to continue.

"The harder it is to find love, the more difficult, means it will be worth that much more when it finds you."

"Am I supposed to feel better?"

"Maybe not at first, but there is no such thing as unable to find love, it does not repulse individual beings with a discrepancy. Everyone has a different definition of love, and when each person finds that, they are content. Sometimes people change their definition of love, that's why relationship end and marriages break. But love always is looking for each and every person's perfect match, helping them to happiness."

"You talk like you know this 'love' personally, and if so, tell them that they have done a shit job on me."

"Well for starts, I would like to think I know myself pretty well, and I do admit I haven't done the best job finding people for you, but that is because you want only the best, you won't ever settle for anything less than the best, that's why you have only been attracted to the most heroic people of your age, and all children of the big 3 to boot."

"Wait, you're love? Like, cupid?"

"Close, let me formally introduce myself, I am Eros, primordial of the infinite energy of love and human emotion and instinct."

"Then what the hell can you want with me, I am literally cursed to never find love."

"Curses can be lifted, and it has yet to act on your current match, it is not too late for Dominic. So I am offering you a choice, you can be rid of your curse and have your fair shot at love, or continue on your path as you are."

"What do I have to do, sleep with you filthy pig primordial?" I growled, I knew what male gods would do, I probably would have joined the hunters if I hadn't been sent to Tartarus.

"Oh no, my wife would have my head for even thinking that. I want you to become my champion in this war, to fight for your love. Earn it, make it worth every second."

"So, get power and fight a bigger role than before, to finally have some shot at a love life if I want it?" I clarified and he nodded.

"So do I sign a contract, or is it just some blessing?"

"So you accept then?"

"You probably made it sound too good to be true, but hell yeah, I am done being pushed around, love curse or not, I am going to be a player in this role, just like the last two."

"Good to hear, any last questions as this process might render you unconscious for a while?"

"You mentioned a wife, aren't you one of the single primordials?"

"I am not wed to one of the other council primordials if that is what you mean, like the gods, there are minor primordials, only one person ever paid attention to them though, but he is long gone, a relic of the past, hopefully never to be found again, I wish you luck on your future endeavors Reyna." He placed two forefingers on my head before I could question what he had said and the world went black.

**Eros POV**

Damn, Chaos is going to have my hide. The one thing we were strictly told never to mention to anyone under any circumstances and I slipped on day one with my champion.

But was forgetting really the right way to be doing things, was it enough to sate what we did to him all those years ago. It was petty jealously and spite that drove us to get him faded, and now the stirrings were beginning. The void had been weakening for years, and it still was. Erebus had a reason to go to war that wasn't just that he wanted to rule this world, but all of them, to strip Chaos's power from her.

Only one had the power to do that. And Erebus was slowly freeing him, one faded immortal at a time.

**Some deep stuff at the end there, setting up the end game for my story for the first time since I started thinking about it. Anyone who has experience, I need some romantic run in ideas for Piper and Jason and Nico and Thalia, keeping the considerations are in my story, I have tried several times to write them, but they never turn out the way I want them to. **

**Big thanks to anyone who reviews or favs my story, it means a lot, I am going to be writing a bit for Light and Dark seeing as I have just put like four of five fresh chapters into this story and enough ideas have accumulated for a few chapters there. **

**Happy Reading- Centurion Africanus**


	24. Chapter 24-the tale of 2 Dominics

**I don't own PJO or HOO**

**Poseidon POV**

I walked out of the meeting hall, wondering what in Hades was wrong with me.

The entire meeting, I had been meaning to ask Thame about where Percy was, I mean, here I am, in the city he was in, and I hadn't seen him once, maybe he was still avoiding me, maybe he was on Olympus when it fell. Maybe him being a part of the pack was all a big hoax.

I knew that wasn't true though, one look around Mirage and I knew Percy had played a big part in its design. His dream was a place where any demigod could live a normal life in peace, free of monsters, and the gods too I guess.

Over the years, Zeus had mistreated so many heroes who weren't his, and the rest of us went along with it. But Percy was the worst, Zeus killed him because he was better than any of his pathetic children. And Zeus really didn't really care too much after either. He was sad for a week because he lost a 'weapon of Olympus', then got right back to his two timing slimy ways, cheating on his wife with no regard or thought to her. At least most other married gods tried to spread our uh, exerts to the mortal world, out.

As I made my way through Mirage though, I noticed a number of pack guys eyeing me, like they were sizing me up for a fight. I ignored them as long as I could, but at least half of the people here were giving me some strange look. I finally glanced over at one of them and was met with the same pair of eyes I saw in the mirror each morning.

I kept going, and every time I looked at one of the pack staring at me, I was met with the same eyes. No tow were alike and only a few were similar, but the eyes on all of them were identical. Maybe it was some large family trait, or maybe the pack only agreed to lose the hoods if they could all disguise their eye color.

I finally got sick of all of them staring at me, so I flashed myself back to my palace, reading myself for my part of Thame's master plan.

**Hades POV**

Thame, whoever the hell he is, is a mad genius. The strategy he laid out for us has a real shot at working, but Athena is against us, and she knew all of our weaknesses. I am starting to think Thame being a mystery is actually an advantage to all of us.

Maybe that was his goal all along, maybe it was coincidence, but either way, it was an advantage for us. I made my way to one of the darkest parts of Mirage and began meditating, mobilizing my forces from here, I didn't want to go just yet, my son was here and he had left ,many questions unanswered.

"Hi Lord Hades." A gloomy voice broke my concentration, when I looked up, I saw my brother's daughter looking more exhausted and upset than I had seen her in a long time.

"Greetings Thalia." I replied cheerfully and patted the ground next to me, gesturing for her to sit with me.

"Why are you so happy, aren't you usually like, really sad and gloomy?"

"Usually, but in light of recent events, I can't really stop myself, best news in centuries

"You call Olympus falling the best news in centuries, if I'm not mistaken, your wife and half your siblings were killed, are you mental or something!" she shouted at me and I face palmed, she probably hadn't seen any of the pack yet.

"No, that was awful, no way in Tartarus was that a good thing, no, my son is alive, he was Thorn all along!" I laughed, but Thalia looked like she had seen a ghost. A look I know quite well in my line of work.

"You mean Thorn was actually Nico?" she asked cautiously

"Yeah, can you believe it, and nobody had a clue." I continued laughing, but Thalia had a thoughtful expression.

"Well, the first monster he fought was under the alias Dr. Thorn..." she mumbled

"Oh yeah, guess the name makes sense now too." I kept laughing

"Excuse me Lord Hades, I have some business I need to attend to." She stood up briskly and walked back the way she came.

I gave one last chuckle, ah, Nico must have really made his mark all those years ago, to have Artemis's lieutenant in love with him. Watching this unfold was going to be most amusing. I focused my mind again and went back to organizing my troops.

**Thalia POV**

I made my way back to Artemis fuming. I was 99% sure that Nico was Thorn, Hades, Thame had even confirmed it, but I didn't trust that guy, there was something he was hiding, one last big secret. I could feel it.

And now the whole damn pack decides to unhood and I have to hear second hand that Nico was still alive, I mean, come on, he was my best friend outside the hunt during the 30 year Percy hunt, then he vanishes, supposedly dead like Percy.

And where the hell is Percy, both of them are getting a through beating when I find them, Nico I might let off easy depending on a different conversation I was going to go have.

I found Zoe at a shooting range and dragged her back to Artemis's room in the building we were in.

"Where are you dragging me Thalia?" she complained since I stopped her practice.

"We need to talk to Lady Artemis, you saw how she froze up when Dominic was in the room, we need to get the full story out of her, there's something she isn't telling us."

"Who's Dominic?" she asked, giving me a sideways glance. I filled her in on what I knew and by the end, her jaw was so far down it, it would have reached the floor if it could.

"So, Lady Artemis has a son?" she asked, still dumbfounded.

"She admitted to it, and she was pretty broken up about it too."

"There must definitely more to the story then, she is hardly emotionally affected by anything in all the years I knew milady."

"That's why you're going to help me get the full story out of her, we need her ready for action."

"True, we will need all the help we can get, we have been pushed around by the dark primordials at every step of this war."

"Where are you guys headed?" Reyna came jogging up from behind us, she looked different though, healthier, stronger. And she had a sweet new gladius on her back.

"So was it Nyx or Eros?" Zoe butted right in as I was about to ask Reyna about her new sword.

"Eros." She answered as she joined us on our way to Artemis.

"Never really pegged a girl for his champion, I always thought it would be some dog faced male." Zoe grinned and threw an arm around Reyna

"That's an insult to dogs." Reyna joked and Zoe chuckled, I gave a half-hearted chuckle, this wasn't making my decision any easier.

"Congrats on the champion thing though." I gave Reyna a light punch on her shoulder and we continued joking as we finally made to the building the hunt was in.

"You guys going to talk to Artemis too?" Reyna asked as we walked in.

"Yeah, we have some personal questions to ask Milady, so you will have to wait." Zoe responded coolly.

"Well Eros told me to ask Artemis a few questions as soon as possible and I think the orders of a primordial hold sway." She countered.

"Let's just all go in together, we can trust each other with both of our businesses, although I think they are the same business."

"If you are referring to questions about Dominic, then yes." Reyna retorted and marched into the elevator and shut the doors before we could get in.

"Who in Hades is Dominic?" I wondered aloud as Zoe and I ran for the staircase, determined to beat her up to Lady Artemis.

All three of us burst into her room at the same, not knocking or anything, waking her up from what seemed to be a peaceful nap.

"What do you girls want?" she asked, only slightly irritated at being awoken.

"Well Miss I'm-a-new-champion-and-my-needs-are-greater-than-yours had some questions for you, Zoe and I, on the other hand, are going to be getting some answers from you."

"You girls make it sound like an interrogation." Artemis joked, but I could see she was begging us not to ask her, but we couldn't let up now.

"We need you at the top of your game Milady, and that means coming to terms with this, you taught me the best way to solve a problem, is to share it." I knew I pushed the right button, she gave me a grin.

"Well, I can't argue with flawless logic like that." She joked for the first time since the whole pack fiasco started.

"May I ask a quick question of you before you three have this discussion?" Reyna interjected

"Fine, handle your primordial junk." I grumbled and both Zoe and Reyna glared at me

"It is not junk, Lord Eros told me that if I play my cards right, we could gain a major advantage. I just need the key, which I was told Lady Diana has." She snapped, obviously loving her new position.

"So Reyna, I'll let the new champion go first, fire away." Artemis cut off any remark from me.

"I know this is probably hard for you, but I need to know everything about Dominic." Her tone was professional, but I could tell her interest went beyond that.

"Looks like there's only going to have to be one conversation that is what you two were coming to me about, right?" Artemis sighed.

"If Dominic is your son, then yes." Zoe curtly responded

"Yeah, I think it is about time I told that story, seeing like he was on Olympus, it was my worst nightmare come to life." Artemis shuddered.

_**Flashback, Artemis POV**_

_It was a regular hunt out by Seattle, about 400 years ago, some pack of hell hounds or something. I left Thalia in charge to set up camp while I went to pick up the trail, maybe get visual confirmation of the target, what I found, I wasn't prepared for. _

_I found the hell hounds easy enough, they were dashing across a field, fleeing rapidly from something. Slowly but surely, dark shots of energy came from behind them, killing them by the dozen. In the span of about 10 minutes, all of them were dead, and no one got hurt. The hunt couldn't have done a better job. _

_I just went back to the girls, told them I had gotten bored and killed all the hounds. They were a little disappointed, but life went on. _

_For the next 5 years, things like that kept happening, dark blurs, some kind of arrow or occasionally bullets would destroy the prey before I could do anything about it. When it took down the Manticore, which had just come back from Tartarus since the 2__nd__ Titan war._

_I got upset, whoever killed it made me miss my chance at revenge. So I changed my target. If it was a girl, I would have her join the hunt, if not, my reputation spoke for my. _

_I tried setting up a fake hunt to draw them out, didn't work. I went on doing regular hunts, trying to catch whoever was interfering when they did. That didn't work either. _

_I was pissed beyond belief. I had painted a picture of an incredibly evil male as the one I was hunting, a rapist and a pig. One like a cross of Ares and Orion, the worst two males in history, with Apollo's horrible jokes that are plain offensive. _

_When the hunt finally made their back to Seattle, I sent the girls to the Amazons to try and recruit a few more hunters, but I wanted to be sure they were safe when I set my most cunning trap yet. _

_Turns out, I didn't need to. As I started to set my trap, a cloaked figured just fell out of the trees. He had a large bow across his back and a pair of semi-automatics in holsters on his waist. I knew it was who I was hunting, so I just started shooting at him. He pulled one of his guns out and shot down all my arrows. _

_I drew my knives to slice him to pieces, but he kept blocking with his guns, no matter how hard or fast I attacked, he just kept blocking. He never attacked me once, just protected himself. _

"_Why won't you just die!" I growled and tried to stab him through the eyes, only to have it swept aside, but I just kept trying. _

"_Why are you attacking me Lady Artemis, I am simply here to inform you as requested?" his tone was polite and respectful, but I brushed it aside. _

"_I have never met you before." I growled and kept attacking. _

"_Then who has been updating me of missions to complete, and you have been to most of them to ensure efficiency, I felt your presence." At this he tossed a mortal electronic pad thing I've seen Apollo and Hermes use. _

_I slowly picked it up, still pointing a knife at him. It had every mission I had ever seen him on and a few others I hadn't. At the top of the device, it read, Sender-Artemis. _

"_Who gave you this?" I questioned, still pointing my knife and him. _

"_My mother, she said she had a job for me, she gave me this, said to complete all missions that are sent to me, and report to you whenever we are in Seattle. If you didn't give those instructions, then I will happily leave and you will never see from me again, unless you want to torture and kill me, in which, just go ahead." His expression from under his hood was unreadable, but he dropped his guns and unslung his bow and placed it at me feet. _

"_I wish for you to stop interfering with my hunt, but keep this in case of an emergency, and who is your mother?" I tossed the device, I think called a phone, back to him and lowered my knife, I felt a little bad for the poor guy, and he had been tricked into a death trap. Why did I not want to kill him? _

"_At once Lady Artemis, I shall leave at once, my mother is also my patron, and I her semi-immortal champion, Lady Acyls."_

_It made sense, this guy was being a major pain in my ass and doing all this work was probably a pain in his. _

"_You are dismissed, but first, what is your name?" I asked as he collected his weapons. _

"_I never got one, my mother has raised me since birth, referring to me as child, she said I had to earn my name." he answer was calm, but I could feel the anger towards his mother laced in his words and facial expression. _

"_Well, I'm calling you Dominic, now leave before I decide that killing would be more productive." I shooed him away and he left without a sound. Once he was gone, I couldn't help but admire his fighting skills, along with his stealth, he also never let his hood slip, I only caught a glimpse of his deep poison green eyes. _

_When I collected my girls again, I was horrified that seven had left to join the Amazons. I yelled at Thalia for letting them leave, and she yelled right back that if I had been there, or hadn't sent them there in the first place, it would have never happened. _

_I stormed off and found myself back in the clearing where I met my new assistant. I summoned him with a thought, and there he was, bowing at my feet. _

_I told him to chill, then ranted for about an hour, he was a good listener. Then he told me to move past, enjoy being with the hunters I still had with me. I sent him away again, and went back to make up with my girls. _

_This was a pattern for maybe 20 years. Something would go wrong for me, I would summon him to rant to when I couldn't rant to Thalia. Once or twice, I used him like an air assault to get the hunt out of some sticky situations. Never once did he make a rude comment or break formality. He was almost a robot that Hephaestus had made. _

_I got curious, I started questioning him about his life. About his mother, about many things. Slowly, I gained a solid respect for him. From there it was admiration, then a real friendship. _

_It saddened me though, that he was only ever business, no fun, no humor, it was like he lived for his job and nothing else. Then I realized, he was like me. Completely devoted to work, leaving no room to live a life. _

_I started making the hunt more fun, but it didn't feel like enough. When I tried to meet with Dominic again to talk to him about becoming more fun, he never came. I tried for about a week, but nothing worked. I became distraught, I had lost a friend, even if he never considered me one, he was a good friend to me. _

_For about a year, I searched for him, but never found him. I was miserable. That's when I got to the idea, if I couldn't find him, I would ask someone who did. I set a meeting with Acyls. _

_I met her at the edge of one of the holes to Tartarus, she lived there so I figured being close to her home would appease her. I confronted her about her son, but she laughed. _

_She told me she had ordered her son to go out into the world and cause misery, destroy people's lives. That when she found out he wasn't doing his job, she killed him. But now she can see he did his job well, he made me, an Olympian, one of the most powerful beings miserable. I had been played. _

_I was going to leave in defeat, but I felt something pull on my energy, tugging my misery straight from me. I turned and saw Acyls holding a small child wrapped in a blanket. She handed him to me, told me this was my burden, that she had taken my misery, pulled the soul of her dead son, and combined their energies into a new form, a new life. _

_She left me, at the edge of Tartarus, holding the vile child of the man who tricked me. I refused to associate myself with that vile man. I made my choice, I tossed the infant into Tartarus and went back to the hunt in tears. _

_For about 10 or 12 years after that, I had nightmares of an auburn haired, green eyed child swearing to kill who ever made his life so miserable. _

_Then they stopped, I slowly convinced myself that he was dead, that I no longer had to worry, but I still got nightmares from time to time, that the boy would find me, he would torture me, and worst of all, he made me fade, gone forever. _

**Flashback over, Thalia POV**__

As Milady finished her story, I was furious, not only at the first Dominic, but also at Acyls and Artemis herself.

"Why is Hades would you throw an innocent child into Tartarus! He literally did nothing except for who his parents were, nothing he could control, it's the whole kill children of the big 3 because their dads broke their oath all over again." I ranted and Artemis flinched.

I turned to Zoe and Reyna, Zoe had a thoughtful look on her while Reyna had silent tears streaming down her cheeks she definitely had a thing for Dominic Jr.

"Well, that does explain things, but you should know Artemis, Acyls was lying." A new voice said from the back of the room, I spun and drew my spear quickly and pointed it at the source of the voice. Thame was standing there, a glowing sword in its sheath at his side. I am pretty sure I recognized the hilt, by the faces Zoe and Reyna were making, they did too.

"Ever heard of a private conversation?" I spat at him and he shrugged.

"I needed to know to plan, we need to take out as many enemy champions as we can to stand a chance, but I know how to handle this know, but Artemis, you are going to have to work with someone you probably don't want to."

"Spit it out Fate boy." Artemis growled

"Well then, follow me, I think it's about time you get reacquainted with a certain son of Acyls."

**Don't kill me, my life has been super hectic, my writing time and inspiration have both been affected. I'll try to be better from here on out, but no promises. I have loved all the great reviews, you guys rock. **

**Happy reading-Centurion Africanus**


	25. Chapter 25-plans form, a ruined date

**I don't own PJO or HOO**

**Nico POV**

I was presently hiding in my room from a probably pissed beyond belief daughter of Zeus. I knew Percy was going to get it bad when he finally truly showed himself, but he still had to get his own body back from Chaos, apparently remaking a body that has been turned to ash is difficult, even for the creator of the universe.

I heard a light knock at my door and Leo's voice from the other side, "We need you out here dude, planning the strike back at Erebus."

I got up and opened the door only to be met with an electrified fist to the face.

I felt my nose break and most of my face go numb. On the other side of the door was a seriously ticked off daughter of Zeus with Leo held up by his hair in one hand and was had sparks shooting off her skin like firecrackers.

"Thanks Leo, real considerate." I grumbled and slowly got up.

"Sorry bro, she made me."

"You say with an evil grin and knowledge you could get away if you really wanted."

"Right, well, I'll leave you two to settle things , although a duel to the death is one way to settle things, just saying." And with that remark, Leo slipped out of Thalia's grasp and was gone in a heartbeat, cackling like the little Mexican devil he was.

"So what's up Thalia?" I slowly got up and grabbed some ambrosia off my dresser, I had a feeling I was really going to need it.

"WHAT'S UP? THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY AFTER HIDING OUT WITH THE SECERET NINJA HUNTER PACK? NOT, I'M SO VERY SORRY I NEVER CONTACTED YOU AT ALL THALIA, OR, I'M SORRY I NEVER TOLD YOU YOUR BROTHER AND COUSIN THAT YOU HAVE MISSED OH SO MUCH ARE ALSO ALIVE AND WELL, NEVER THOUGHT TO DROP BY ONE SIMPLE LITTLE IRIS MESSAGE, HUH!"

She broke down into tears and started throwing wild electrified haymakers at me, I let myself take the beating I probably deserved.

When she was done, I shoved the ambrosia into my mouth and once it kicked in, I slowly got up and stretched out, multiple bones cracking back into place, ugh Thalia could really throw a mean punch.

"I take it sorry isn't an option?" I tried

"WHAT DO YOU THINK CORPSE BRAINS?" Thalia pulled back for another punch, so I tried something

"What about a long string of apologies over dinner in one of the cafes here, I know some that have good burgers, if you still like burgers that is?" My suggestion caught her completely off guard, she actually let her fist drop to her side.

"Like a date, because you know I am a part of Artemis's hunt, the immortal no guys club, I would get a feast in my honor for beating you like I just did, you know that right?"

"No, just as cousins where one needs to suck up to the other to get back on their good side, nothing more, I'll bring Jason or Percy if you want." So she was serious about the whole no-dating-hate-all-guys thing, there go my hopes and dreams, probably gonna cry this out when she leaves.

"Definitely bring Percy and Jason, they also need to get a reminder of why not to leave me in the dark on matters of importance." Shit, I just got myself into more trouble.

"Percy will probably be busy preparing everyone for the next attack, so just Jason then."

"Oh no, I need to give kelp head a little nice to see you again present IN PERSON, not another mist form trick." Thalia glared at me, daring me to challenge her.

"You got it, I'll see you sometime tomorrow then, and I'll swing by with Percy and Jason for catching up and beatings."

"Don't you dare skip, I know where you live now." She tapped on the doorframe and left without another word. I flopped back on my bed and groaned loudly once I thought she was out of earshot. Damn, there goes my heart and probably my limbs when Percy finds out what I promised Thalia, or when Thalia finds out Percy didn't want to meet her for some reason.

I looked at the only picture that made me happy when I felt completely awful, it was the one of Bianca and me at the amusement park in Elysium. Once I freed her soul from Tartarus, it was reborn as a lion, the one I rode now actually. But about a hundred years ago, Chaos remade her body to as it was before. Except her eyes, they were white. She lived a full life as a normal mortal before making it to Elysium. I got to keep my lion after Chaos gave it a new soul.

The picture was from one of the times I visited her in the underworld, she was determined to embarrass me as much as she could, and was kissing me on the check in the picture, one of her new bright white eyes visible to the camera.

But seeing the picture didn't help today, it just made me think back to the dreadful trip to Tartarus I had to take.

I laid back on my bed and cried myself to sleep, letting thoughts of Tartarus overtake me in their full nightmarish hell.

**Thalia POV**

The first person I recognized in a pack uniform was Cal, or as I now saw, Leo. That stupid flirty son of Hephaestus was probably the only person I was glad to have gone after the Giant War, and of course now he had near infinite power. But I could still get him to do what I wanted. I made him take me to Nico's room in the main pack building, which was in the basement unsurprisingly.

Once I let Leo go and gave Nico his first round of many not telling me you were alive beatings, he surprised me, he asked me out.

But of course I had to get nervous and revert to the hunter mindset the had been mercilessly drilled into my head for the past 800 years, then I accepted to adding people to our little outing, which turned out not to be a date.

Then I saw it.

There was a photo on his desk of him with a girl I didn't recognize. She had long black hair and vibrant white eyes. They were sitting together in an amusement park, and she was kissing his cheek while he smiled cheekily at the camera.

I thought this was before the whole pack thing, but he had scars on his face that weren't there before his 'death'. Also, the date on the picture frame put it at 100 years ago.

I made my way out of his room with a broken heart and a threat. I made my way back to the hunt's building, starting to really believe everything Artemis always preached.

All men do is break your heart.

**Piper POV**

Sometimes, I really hate being a daughter of Aphrodite, it makes me overly emotional at the worst of times. Of course when I finally get to see Jason again, my Jason, I had to go and fall unconscious for several days, then forget he was wanted by Olympus for something Hercules did and spill to my mother, then start a full man hunt for him.

Not exactly the reunion I had always pictured, but suited my life to a tee.

So when all Hades broke loose on Olympus and Jason flew out of nowhere in his full superman glory to give me help, even though I had the situation completely under control, I had to try not to swoon.

We fought together just like old times for a while before we started to get over run by the sheer number of monsters, but he just pulled me into his chest and flew us off into the sunset, much more what the evil Aphrodite part of my brain wanted than before.

After we got to whatever city he had been in, I gave him a good talking to, several smacks to the face, and I also charm spoke him into telling me whenever he was faking his own death, so I wouldn't fall apart like last time, although, living with a half crazed shell of your best friend didn't help with that either.

After a much better nice to see you again, I cuddled into his side and exhaled softly. I had missed Jason, having him back was almost worth the heart crushing depression I went through, I didn't want to go through it again though.

I laid back and let myself truly relax for the first time in hundreds of years.

**Artemis POV**

When Thame told me I had to face Dominic Sr. again, that he was alive and in the pack the whole time, that he had tried to kill his mother, but lost and Thame intervened to save him.

Thame led me to what he called the pack's main living space. He pressed on one of the many buttons by the door, like what mortals had on their apartment buildings.

Shortly after, an all too familiar face came out of the building, I recognized him from the pack to, it was 25, the one I had caught to start all this. Oh the irony.

"Good to see you again in the flesh Lady Artemis." Dominic Sr. bowed deeply then quickly righted himself.

I was speechless, here was the one person that I had never thought I would see again, words temporarily escaped me, so I used a method I was certain Thalia was using elsewhere, probably multiple times.

I decked him in the face.

He flew back into the wall, knocked out. Thame only groaned.

"You couldn't have waited until AFTER I explained my plan to get Dominic Jr. back." He complained and I turned on him.

"You want the next one?" I asked, staring down his scarred face.

"As if you could, just take him over to the building with a purple roof, Reyna will be waiting for you two with the plan, don't kill him either, we'll need him to make this work."

"Fine." I grumbled and picked up the lost son of Acyls and marched off into the city.

I found the building easy enough, it was only a block away, I knocked on the door and Reyna greeted me and led me to a meeting room within her house.

Dominic Sr. finally came too when I chucked him onto a couch.

"Plan time, if my memory is correct, completing orders was your sole function, so just sit there, be silent, and let your superiors discuss matters." I growled at him, it was taking a lot of self-restraint to not deck him again, my fist crunching against his face had felt so good, maybe I shouldn't hold Thalia back when she asks to deck someone next time.

"Maybe back then, but I don't follow orders anymore, except for Thame, he scares the crap out of me."

"And neither Reyna nor I do?" I shot back

"Compared to Thame, not in the slightest. But that's beside the point, Reyna, you have plans for Thame, lay em out, we gotta get my son I didn't know existed."

"Didn't you live around him for hundreds of years, shouldn't you have made the connection?"

"He choose to hide his reason for being among the hunted, I blamed Acyls. Neither of us removed our cloaks, only Thame had seen the both of us, maybe Cal and Thorn, or Leo and Nico as you know them."

"Yet you still missed your own child, you really are another sick male."

"Said the bitch who threw an infant into Tartarus because they reminded you of something unpleasant."

Once again, my fist went to meet his face, but Reyna stopped it.

"If you two would stop arguing like an old married couple, can we get started on the mission?"

"WE AREN'T A MARRIED COUPLE!" I roared at her, my patience dwindling quickly

"Well if you two keep acting like that, I will pull a Venus and force you two to fall in love, so shut up." That silenced us both quickly

"Now then, Thame told me that the only way to break Darren's mind control is to remind him of who he is, to break through the cage that is keeping him from controlling his body, Darren can control the mind, not the heart. If the three of us can get his heart to overpower his mind, Darren's control will be broken."

"Great in theory, how do we do it?" Sr. asked

"As Eros's champion, I am able to see into someone's heart, Eros helped me do a long scrying to see into Dominic's. He wants someone by his side through thick and thin that loves him, and I want the same thing with him so no problem, but the second part is where you two come in. He also wants to see his parents get along, see that he isn't from a hateful broken home."

"Well that's not going to happen, based off sunshine's story over here, she never wanted or cared for him, I was completely clueless."

"Like a typical male." I muttered under my breath.

"Look, we need to be honest with him, apologize, get him to realize who he is, break the spell, then we have him back and the score at least tied as far as champions goes. If the others pull off the distraction successfully and Thame gets back Annabeth, we have the advantage, this NEEDS to work, now if he makes a request of you two, you do it, end of story, am I perfectly clear?"

"Fine." We both grumbled.

"Good, I believe it's almost go time, so suit up."

**Leo POV**

After leaving Nico to deal with his completely enraged crush, I made my way back to Percy/Thame. I knew he was waiting until he got his own body and Annabeth back before showing himself, but even then, how many people would he show, his trust in people and basically gone through the floor since the whole original mind control business.

When I was at the meeting pavilion, I saw Percy talking with Chaos, knowing they both already sensed me, I just hung around and watched them. Chaos gestured at the portal she had made and Percy nodded. Then Chaos flicked him in the forehead.

His body began to glow, his stature changed, I could see the tips of shaggy black hair come out from under his hood. Percy had his body back, and he was ready to go.

Slowly, everyone made their way to the pavilion.

"Alright everybody, here's the plan. I am opening a portal for Hades's army and the hunt to storm the portal from the Tartarus side, Artemis, Sr and Reyna will be going with them, along with Hazel and Nico.

Poseidon will be taking his own army along with the aqua squadron from the pack along with the surviving campers, Hephaestus and Zoe and Leo. They will be directly assaulting the elevators, going up in small elite groups.

I will be sneaking in directly to Olympus to retrieve Annabeth. We clear?"

"You shouldn't be going alone into Olympus, no doubt Annabeth is heavily guarded, how in Hades are you going to get through?" Artemis questioned him, I already knew the answer, and I think Nico did too.

"I will have my own backup." He cryptically answered.

"Why are you taller now?" Thalia piped up from the back, I saw Nico slip away from her when he heard her voice, good, I properly scarred him.

"Chaos returned my true body to me."

"So what you showed us at meeting wasn't real, and you're still hiding."

"Only a little longer Thalia, after this mission."

"Now everybody, positions, WE FIGHT FOR OUR SURVIVAL, FOR THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN, FOR THE GODS!"

And with his war cry, we all jumped through our designated portals, ready to hand out a serious beating.

**I apologize, a thousand apologies, I ran completely out of ideas for this chapter, I finally got inspiration from my brother, bless the little devil. The next three chapters should come fairly quickly, they are the three fronts of the battle. There will be more secrets revealed. A popular request I have been getting is to tell more backstory and Percy and his time in the pack, I decided aside from necessary backstory, I will be writing a separate story of the pack once I am done with this story. This story will have a sequel, and the pack stories will be a prequel. **

**Thanks for putting up with me being really slow, Happy Reading-Centurion Africanus **


	26. Chapter26-the battle of the sea,on land

**I don't own PJO or HOO**

**Leo POV**

As each Poseidon and Hades summoned their forces to Mirage to be transported to the battle field. They exchanged a few final words, clasping each other's forearms in a strong grip. It only took the annihilation of most of their family and thousands of years, but brotherly bonding was finally happening.

Zoe and I led our group to the portal, followed closely by Poseidon and my dad.

"You guys know the plan?" I asked them and Poseidon gave a nod.

"You two handle any champions that come our way, I use my army to eliminate the brunt of theirs so the pack members can get up into the elevators in strike teams." Poseidon confirmed and I nodded.

"And I get to use all my toys that Zeus would never let me use, quoting they were 'too volatile and potentially world ending'." My dad added with a grin.

"We'll see, so let's go." I finished the little pow-wow and we all charged through the portal.

We came out about a block away from the empire state building. Using what Percy told me, we were on the north side, the side facing the door.

We slowly made our way to the front door, the merman army getting used to having human legs. When we were in sight of the building, we stopped dead. About a block in every direction of the building was filled with Cyclopes, telekhines, and black skinned naiads I didn't recognize, Poseidon growled when he saw them though.

"Fallen naiads, cyclopes, and telekhines, all the creatures banished from the sea, of course." Zoe muttered as the two of us followed by Poseidon made our way to the three figures standing in front of the massive sea reject army.

Orion was standing on the left, scowling at all three of us, Zoe and Poseidon glared back just as much, bad blood I guess. On the right was a turquoise skinned man I faintly recognized from Thame's lessons on minor Primordials. He had curled rams horns growing out of his temples that were made of imperial gold. He was holding a deep blue bident. His name was Hyd…something. In the middle was a light blue cloaked girl, she was twirling a pair of knives quickly in her hands, I threw my hood up before they could see me, to match, it was only fair.

"Have you come to surrender and pledge your allegiance to the all-powerful Erebus and his allies." Orion mocked and Zoe quickly drew her bow and pointed it at Orion.

"Hold thy tongue sea sponge, or you will lose something you value much more than your eyes." Zoe growled and lowered her shot a little. Orion paled and moved his hands in front of his crotch.

"Enough Orion, they are obviously here to fight for the gods, but why is my question. Most of the gods are cruel harsh emotionless being whose only goal is to make other's lives a living Tartarus." The cloaked girl spat out.

"That was Zeus's fault, and a fair amount of the others, but they were still family." Poseidon gave the girl a soft glare, obviously feeling a little bad for whatever the gods did to her.

"Well, you pitiful gods threw me in a prison, cursed me three times over, and when I finally broke free, Zeus banished me to Tartarus, so why again didn't they deserve what they got?" she spat, twirling her knives faster, little sea salt tornadoes began to form over them.

"Well try this, I've died, jumped into Tartarus and the realm of the faded to find someone the gods took from me, yet here I am still fighting for them." I prodded back at her and she growled

"Then you are a true fool." She shot back

"Yep, that's definitely true." I told her in a laid back tone that just got her more frustrated.

"Can we just stop this banter and fight?" the turquoise guy, wait I know, Hydros, complained.

Poseidon gave his trident a quick jab at Hydros, who just barely kept himself from being impaled.

"Works for me." He growled and answered back with his own jab. Zoe quickly released her arrow at Orion, but he jumped back and the arrow killed part of the massive army behind him.

"CHARGE!" I gave the command to the army at my back and turned to my fight. Knife girl, probably Thalassa's champion, sent a wave of salt at me, but I quickly countered by dragging my hammer across the ground melting it into magma, and blocking with that.

I jumped forward and swing my hammers in an x, but she blocked with equal skill. I kept swinging, trying to drive her back, but she blocked every swing flawlessly and with a certain grace. Then she went on the attack, using her knives like they were an extension of her arms, trying to impale me, but I knocked them aside with sweeping strikes with my hammers.

Around me, the humongous battles was well under way. Zoe and Orion were running up the sides of sky scrapers, shooting in rapid succession at each other, but none managing to get a hit. Their arrows were raining down on both unsuspecting armies below, striking both friend and foe alike. The mermen were locked in combat with the Cyclopes, using phalanxes and spears to fell their larger foes, but if a cyclops got close enough, they would give a mighty swing of their club and destroy the entire front line before being taken out.

My dad had a small army of automatons and was obliterating the telekhines from afar himself with a collection of cannons, each shooting something different. One a glass grape shot, another exploding cannon balls, a third, more automatons that acted like kamikaze pilots. But for every fallen automaton, if the Telekhines got their hands on it, they would reprogram it to fight for them, it was a repeating cycle of mechanical destruction. Anything that got close to him was cut down by the surviving campers that had formed a defensive circle around him.

Poseidon and Hydros were actually pretty evenly matched. Hydros was the minor primordial of liquids, putting him at the same powerful level as Poseidon. The two were using Hudson and the East river to basically flood the battle field while they shot high powered blasts of water at each other, occasionally getting close enough to each other to take a couple jabs with their weapons.

The aqua sector of the pack was going nuts, they were all the sons of Poseidon from over the centuries that Percy had been in charge. I guess it was a good thing Athena cursed Poseidon to never have a daughter, we got to have all the children of Poseidon on our side. They were skating around and using the water like hundreds of throwing knives to tear through he fallen naiads, striking with precision and skill. The dark naiads, who would be incredibly difficult to kill on normal circumstances, were falling quickly, most not even getting to swing a blow at aqua sector before being ripped apart. The ones who did always missed, then were taken out. Percy would be proud of his brothers.

I refocused on my fight, parrying blow after blow, but there was no point to either of our attacks, we were perfectly matched. Our fighting styles were like looking in the mirror for the both of us.

We both realized this at the same time and we disengaged, and started circling each other, looking for a weakness in the other. I decided that if melee combat wasn't going to end this, then powers would have too. I summoned a huge wave of lava and threw it at her, but she had matched my move yet again. When both waves met, nature decided it would be a good time to start a rainstorm. The lava/salt waves crashed together and cooled quickly due to the rain, trapping the two of us in a large crystal bubble.

I had to stop and stare, so did my counterpart in this battle. I had only seen crystal like this in one place before. Calypso's island. It was the same gorgeous blue as her eyes were, bringing up old memories I tried so hard to keep hidden. All this crystal around me gave me hope, the memory of Calypso gave me strength. I summoned more lava and formed them into doppelgangers of me. I sent them too attack, but my move was once again copied to a tee.

My lava men collided with her salt ones and they collided and cooled into crystal statues that filled the dome we were trapped in. I crept my way through the statue, I would have smashed them to clear the battle field, but they reminded me too much of Caly.

I slowly walked backwards towards the edge of the dome, when I felt something bump into me. Something alive.

Thalassa's champion and I both spun around and bot swung our weapons with renewed vigor. Clashing in a spray of crystal as the statues around us became the victims to our stabs and swings. Soon all the statues were destroyed and the crystal shards covered the round and refracted the light around us. It would have been beautiful if I wasn't fighting for my life.

"Well this is going nowhere." I said as I blocked another one of her blows.

"It would appear so." She grunted as she deflected one of my crushing hammer blows.

"Want to try the diplomatic thing and talk this out over some tea or something?" I asked while trying to sweep her legs out from under her, she leapt over with ease

"Seems a little boring." She answered, trying to stab down on me, but I rolled away

"Good point, I mean, I am all about action." I joked with another block.

"You tell probably the second worst jokes I have ever heard." She said, flipping over me with a slash that I dodged.

"I am offended, every person I have ever met has said I tell the absolute worst jokes in history, where can I find my challenger," I tried another x blow, but she leapt back

"Try Elysium, he died in the 2nd giant war," she said, her voice trailing off. She had lost someone special too. But I pressed my advantage. I formed some lava spikes on my hammers and swung while she was distracted. She reacted quickly as well, but instead of dodging, she went for a stab.

We both barely dodged the other's blows, but our cloaks were ripped off in the process. Standing in front of me was the one person I had wanted to see more than anything, the one person I thought was taken from me forever.

I only managed to get out one word in my shock "Caly" and at the same time she choked out "Leo"

**Poseidon POV**

My fight was slowly going downhill. Hydros had a greater control over water than I did and was slowly wearing me down. Zoe and Orion were still leaping from building to building, shooting at each other, but now they were several blocks away from the combat. All of Hephaestus's automatons were destroyed and the few remaining telekhines were locked in a stalemate with the campers, who were soaked and exhausted.

My army was still warring with the Cyclopes, Tyson, now an aged and experienced army general, was beating three at once with his club, Percy would be proud. The pack aqua whatever they were called had just about killed the dark naiads and a few were helping out the campers. They were the only remaining party without any injuries of causalities I could see. Although I had no idea how they were controlling the water that was just about everywhere. I don't remember blessing anybody, much less this many people. And I hadn't had any children despite trying.

Leo and Thalassa's champion were both in some crystal dome, probably dueling to the death.

I had lost focus on my opponent and as a result, I was blasted back into a building. Hydros stood over me in victory, placing one foot on my trident, forcing it out of my grasp.

"Goodbye Poseidon, say hello to your asshole family from the almighty Primordials." He laughed and shot a large spike of water at me, I tried to stop it, but I didn't have enough power without my trident.

The water began to slow though, it was now moving like it was going through jello. I saw that all the pack troops were stopping their fights and focusing on the water spike. Hydros began to focus harder on the spike, but the whole of the pack that was present was working as one now and they had the spike stopped in the air. Together, they were as powerful at the primordial.

"How is this possible, I am a primordial, you are all puny demigods." He howled in rage

"That may be true." One said from my left

"But we are a family, and none of us are about to stand by and let you kill our father." Another finished and they gave another tremendous push on the water spike. My sea life filled skull barely processed what was said. These were my children. I realized and a new strength roared through me. I grabbed my trident out from under Hydros and added my own power to that of my children. I reached into a rarely used power I had and I froze the water, if Hydros was primordial of liquids, he would have no control over ice.

My theory proved to be correct, for as soon as the water froze, it rocketed at him, letting out a sonic boom as it went, and tore straight through his chest.

"NNNNOOOOO" he howled in a cheated rage. As he slowly dissolved into silver dust, just as my family had back on Olympus. Hydros had faded.

I felt exhausted, but the remaining Cyclopes and telekhines were fleeing back into the Empire state building. My army driving them back at last. We had them corralled, but as we made to chase them into the building, Orion came flying through the air, an arrow through his gut and he was also bleeding through cuts on his arms and torso. Zoe could be seen sprinting on a building across the street, hunting her prey.

Orion raised his arms and steam erupted throughout the entire battlefield, blinding us all. When it cleared, the whole Empire state building was shaking and with a mighty groan, it fell. Just before it landed, a portal opened under our feet, whisking us away, only Leo in his crystal dome remained on the battle field. We landed back in Mirage, but the exhaustion of the day caught up with me, I lay my back against a tree and I fell asleep.

**Front one of three of the huge battle is complete, next is the action at the edge of Tartarus. I'm thrilled with all the reviews I've been getting, thanks for all the support, it inspires me to write faster. **

**Happy reading- Centurion Africanus**


	27. Chapter 27- Tartarus street brawl

**I don't own PJO or HOO**

**Thalia POV**

I was prepping the hunters for Tartarus. The part of the pack who was going with us was insisting everybody put on a gas mask, and from what I remember Percy telling me about Tartarus, we would need them.

I got all the girls to put them on, then went to do a final report to Artemis. She was deep in discussion with one of the pack and Reyna.

"Report ready Lady Artemis." I got her attention, she turned to me and gave a nod for me to continue.

"All the girls finally put gas masks on, everyone has a 100 shot quiver and three sets of hunting knives, those with magical weaponry have it ready as well, we are ready for you to lead us into battle."

Artemis gave me a sad look and shook her head. "I can't this time Thalia, I have a personal matter that needs attending to. YOU need to be the one that leads the hunt into battle."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, "But Milady, we need your help, this isn't some regular battle, we're going to fight in TARTARUS for Zeus's sake, how are we going to get through that without your help?" I basically cried out.

"You will, I have complete faith in you Thalia, out of all my siblings over all the years, you are my favorite, including Apollo, you are a true hunter, you can and you will lead the hunt into the battle successfully." She told me, but I felt my confidence lower even more.

"Milady, I'm not, I've never been a true hunter. I joined to escape a prophecy, not because of some guy. I found out recently too that the guy I had a crush on long ago is still alive. After this was all over, I was thinking about leaving the hunt, please lead us, I can't do it." I was grasping her arms and shaking her around, tears streaming down my face, my two points of interest finally colliding. The hunt, or my heart.

"Thalia, no one is perfect. I am going to get my son back, you are going to and when we ALL make it back, I think I am going to make a few small changes to hunt protocol, like approved dating after I thoroughly terrify and traumatize the guy, so you go lead Thalia, don't worry for now, just be yourself." Artemis had grabbed my arms and held me steady, staring me dead in the eyes.

I couldn't come up with an answer for how grateful I was, with most everything. I grabbed Artemis and pulled her into a tight hug. Maybe, I wouldn't have to pick between my family and my heart. Artemis was like how my mother should have been if she hadn't given into drinking and other horrible crap.

"Thank you." I muttered into her shoulder before pulling away, quickly recomposing myself.

"Now if you are going to excuse me Artemis, I have a hunt to lead through Tartarus." And with that, I marched back to the hunt as we prepped in front of the portal. Hazel, Reyna, and Hades would be leading us through, followed by Artemis and one of the pack guys.

Then was Hades army, led directly by Nico, which surprised me. Mingled through Hades army was glowing white spirits. I actually recognized a few, I also recognized the white eyed girl from Nico's picture standing next to him, laughing and joking, so she was dead, I would just have to kill her for trying to steal my Nico. I relished in that thought, I didn't have to feel like I was betraying Artemis anymore when I thought that, it was liberating. Behind Hades army was the hunt and half of the pack, every one of the pack had a long bow over their normal weaponry. I could recognize Jason among them, crackling with electricity in anticipation.

Hades and Poseidon gave each other a solid arm clasp, then they went into their respective portals. The army began their march into the portal behind the lead group. Once the whole of the army made it through, the pack followed and I led the hunters through at the back.

When we were through, I had to hold back a gasp. Even through the gas mask, I could smell how awful everything was down here. Also, we has showed up in the middle of a giant army. Hades skeletons made up our outer ring, then the glowing white figures, then the pack with the hunt in the center.

At one of the edges, Our lead group was talking with the other leaders, namely a giant winged guy, Thanatos I think, Athena, and a third man I had never seen before, but with his shocking resemblance to Artemis, it had to be Dominic.

They talked for a bit, then broke out into fighting, signaling for both armies to do the same. Athena crossed swords with Hazel while Reyna struggled to keep up with the blows Dominic was raining down on her. Hades had grabbed Thanatos and they were grappling.

"FIRE" I ordered my hunters and they all loosed their arrows, each hitting one of the millions of empousi, hell hounds, dracaena, and other nasty monsters. The skeletons were hacking apart most of the bulk of the army while the glowie white guys would slip through them and take on what leaked through them.

Things were at a stale mate until a great roar sounded from behind me. The Lydian Drakon that Clarisse had killed back in Manhattan had plowed through our front lines and was crushing hundreds of skeletons.

I went to find Phoebe, being the only child of Ares I knew was here, but the guys who assessed the Greek campers beat me too it. He gave a howl of rage and leapt towards the drakon. His _four_ arms punching it, knocking it backwards a few yards with every blow. The drakon made to bite him in two, but he jumped forwards and into its mouth.

The drakon was clearly as surprised as I was, flinching back in shock. Its head started to quiver, then the guy, I think he was numbered 26, burst from its skull and it turned into dust. The guy gave a war cry and jumped right back into the thick of things, lifting hell hounds with one of his arms, then beating it with the other three.

The rest of the pack was fighting just well. Each one using different powers, fighting like demons. One was throwing knives out of his sleeves faster than I could watch, another was shooting some kind of laser gun, and Jason was flying overhead, killing hundreds of harpies and griffons with each lightening blast, keeping the skies clear.

I refocused on my fighting, shooting down as many monsters as I had arrows. When I was out of arrows, I drew Aegis and my spear and plunged into the fighting. I stabbed an empousi, then spun and slashed a hell hound before rolling away.

I kept killing monster after monster until I felt the back of my neck tingle. I spun quickly and held my shield up as the Minotaur slammed into it. I flew back and crashed in a heap of destroyed bones, cutting up my back a little. The Minotaur charged again and I held up my shield weakly, but the hit never came. The white eyed girl had crashed into the Minotaur from the side, then cleaved its head off with a hatchet.

"Common Thalia, still plenty of monsters to tear through." She joked then I realized who it was, I had been focusing on the eyes instead of the whole person, it was Bianca.

"How are you here Bianca?" I asked her, jumping into an even flow, slicing up a dracaena as I went.

"I was wandering Elysium when some scared up living guy grabbed me and threw me into Tartarus, I was down there for a while, and then Nico came and rescued me. I was paralyzed from the waist down at that point, so he called someone for a favor, next thing I know, I have the body of a lion. He said something soul transportation, but I never really understood it." She answered, cutting an empousi's head off.

"So why aren't you still a lion?" I asked, flipping over a charging hellhound, bashing it with my shield in the meantime.

"Nico got me a new human body, the only difference to my original one was the white eyes, and they still freak me out sometimes. I lived a normal life, then went back to Elysium, and when Hades sent out the call for all fallen heroes to fight for Olympus, I was one of the first ones."

"So all the glowie white people are the fallen heroes of history?" I asked and Bianca nodded.

"Yup, Achilles was the only notable one who stayed behind, being bound to the river Styx and all." She said with a blush

"Something I need to know Bianca? Last I remember, you were a hunter?" I joked and she turned a fierce scarlet.

"No, it was just one date." She protested and I gave a hearty laugh before stabbing a hell hound that was leaping over head.

"What about you, still a complete hunter? From what I saw at the portal, someone might be having second thoughts." She said in a sing-song voice, I turned a light shade of pink.

"That's nothing, just a minor disagreement." I brushed her off, throwing my spear at a passing griffon Jason had missed before picking up a fallen one from the ground.

"Well, as long as it has nothing to do with Nico, you go do whatever you want girl." Bianca joked, glancing at me to see my face turn a deep maroon.

"Uh…Your brother has nothing to do with this, just… uh… go kill some monsters." I said before sprinting off to another section of the battle field, hearing her laughing behind me.

I looked for the rest of the hunt, but everyone was scattered, Phoebe was leading a few against a hydra and Atlanta and some others had found their way up a cliff and was raining down arrow after arrow on the monsters.

I looked for something to kill when I spotted Jason in a 3-1 match against the furies. I ripped Aegis off my arm and hurled it like a Frisbee at them. It crashed through two of them, killing them. Jason sliced the third one's head off, gave me a thumbs up, and flew off to electrocute more monsters. I searched for Aegis, but I couldn't find it.

"Looking for this." A voice said from behind me, I turned and Nico passed Aegis back to me.

"Thanks." I said before bashing a dracaena that was failing at sneaking up on me with it.

"So, how is whatever plan we are supposed to be following going?" I asked, falling into a steady rhythm with him.

"Don't know about Thame, Leo's just not answering, but according to the pack members at the empire state building, we have a definite upper hand. Although, New York is basically filled with water at this point."

"And here?" I asked, twirling, catching sight of him stab an empousi in the stomach, and then punching it in the face with a bronze knuckle duster.

"My dad is beating Thanatos, Hazel needed a bit of help at first, but she is evenly matched with Athena for now. As for Reyna and Dominic, Thame came up with some crazy plan that Sr was supposed to report to him about, a way to break Darren's mind control."

"So did it work?" I asked hopefully.

"Still working on it." He said and gestured to a large body filled field where three figures could be seen at a distance fighting one, the scary part was, the one was winning.

"So about that group dinner we were going to have." Now or never I figured, killing another monster with a quick jab of my spear.

"What about it?" he asked, throwing his sword into a crowd of monsters, killing a few dozen of them. He pulled another one out of his cloak and went back to hacking them down.

"How about Percy and Jason have to schedule their own suck up dinner?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound to hopeful- cough-desperate-cough.

"What happened to the whole, hunters don't have dinners with disgusting males Artemis has ingrained into your brain?" he asked in a suspicious tone.

I didn't answer right away. I took the butt of my spear and slammed it into the ground, sending out an electrical shock wave that gave us maybe a minute before the monsters were on us again. I marched right over to him, tore off both of our gas masks despite his protests, and kissed him full on the mouth.

It was everything I had imagined, and surprising didn't taste like dead people. His lips tasted like an Italian restaurant would smell, he had a deep earthy scent that was probably sweat and monster dust, but it was enjoyable none the less. After a second, he kissed me back, I had to hold back a yell of victory.

"She'll just have to learn to deal with it." I told him after I pulled away. I tossed him back his gas mask, pulled my own back on, and we continued to fight the horde, monster by monster, together.

**Reyna POV**

I was in my element. I was leader again, back in charge of my own fate. Heading an army full of both heroes and cannon fodder. It felt great.

I led us through the portal, mentally preparing myself for what lay beyond, but nothing could prepare me for returning to Tartarus. Thankfully I didn't have to wear a gas mask, being on primordial power levels, but the air was still dry and stale. The sky flashed with red lightning.

I heard Hazel, Pluto, Diana, and the Sr guy come out of the portal behind me, followed by the army.

"Circle the army around the portal, keep the hunters, pack, and Elysium heroes for the worst of the monsters." I ordered Nico, and he directed the army as I had said. Pluto, Hazel and I made our way carefully to where a large cavern opened and I could see Olympus beyond. Only three figures stood between Olympus, and our quickly emerging army.

Standing tall in front of the entrance was Lady Minerva, Thanatos, who I recognized from the description of him after the Alaska quest, I could see why he could be mistaken for Cupid, and he had a strong attractive build and a huge pair of wings.

Off to the side was the reason I was here. Dominic was in a full assassin getup, I could see at least 30 blades on his person, all of which were probably coated in a nasty poison. He had full red and black cloak that went well with his heavy cloth suit. Like something out of a video game. He looked truly in his element, like I was leading an army, but his eyes betrayed that. His eyes glowed a light cold blue. A sign of Darren's mind control.

"Niece, please tell me you are here to end this madness." Pluto basically begged from Minerva, who gave him a twisted smile in return.

"Madness, no, I am not mad. I am enlightened. Phanes opened my mind to knowledge, all knowledge. I know everything, about almost everybody, and every event. I know that when Aether's champion killed Zeus, it completed the prophecy my mother told Zeus, that the lineage of his first born son would bring him down.

I know it was Apollo who saved and hid Percy Jackson from my wrath. I know Percy Jackson is still hiding, he is scared of going to war again, his friends and allies dying for him, while he walks on. He is wracked with survivors' guilt. I know that Thame is a powerhouse, but he refuses to use his symbol unless truly necessary and he keeps powerful secrets that could tear the world apart. You are few in number, you have fewer champions. You are looking to survive, we seek to conquer. These are your weaknesses. That is how we crush you, your predictability." Minerva finished with a mad cackle. It was official, she had completely lost her marbles.

"Well, from where I'm standing, it's three on an army, not much for crushing if you ask me." Hazel challenged her, but she gave another mad howl of glee.

"Look again ignorant little girl." Her laugh was dark and high pitched, like a mad scientist crossed with a witch.

I glanced back at our army and choked on my next words. Most of our army was out of the portal, just the Hunters left, but surrounding them were what looked like ALL of Tartarus's monsters. Drakons, hell hounds, empousi, dracaena, just about every kind of monsters except for cyclops. There was also some of the more dangerous monsters, I could see the chimera a ways back, all the children of Echidna were somewhere in the seemingly infinite horde.

"You are all domed, and I shall take great pleasure in ending you." Athena laughed, her eyes wide and her smile crazed.

"Well, you're a complete lunatic. I ask this of you Thanatos, my closest ally, why have you betrayed me so?" Hades asked Thanatos, but Thanatos shook his head.

"Hades, you didn't once treat me like an ally. You used me for my abilities. I am done with that. I am a child of Nyx and Erebus, a minor primordial, but you treat me like a minor god, today, that ends." he said in a calm even tone, but it was laced with anger and hatred.

"So be it my friend, but I regret what is to come." Hades placed his helm of darkness on and tackled Thanatos before he had a chance to react. And with that, the fighting began.

Minerva and I drew our spears and Hazel pulled her spatha, I could hear Sr and Diana readying themselves behind us.

Minerva gave a savage war cry and attempted to spear me through the stomach. I deflected the blow and answered with one of my own. She parried and swung again, but Hazel jumped in to intercept the blow.

"Go, your fight is with him." Hazel called to me, nodding to Dominic who was toying with his parents.

"I'll help her, just go." Nico came running from the army and blocked a blow that would have cleaved Hazel in two.

I gave a stern nod as I rushed away to where Dominic was tearing through his parents.

"Dominic!" I called to him, getting his attention all on me.

"Sorry, he isn't home now, would you like me to take a message?" a cold sharp voice answered from him. I shuddered, it wasn't Dominic at all, it was Darren using him as a puppet, and I had to sever the strings.

"Get the fuck out of his body." I growled at him and Darren gave a dark laugh.

"You want him back, come get him." He said as he threw one of his many knives at me. I blocked it and lunged at him.

Darren/Dominic danced away from the blow and threw a pair of knives at Diana and Sr. They only just managed to get out of the way.

I went on the offensive, trying to keep him from causing too much mayhem, but he evaded my blows effortlessly, all while keeping Diana and Sr tied down with throwing knives, how he even had so many was beyond me.

I finally managed to land a solid blow on his ribcage with the flat of my blade, but as he flew back, he caught me in the thigh with one of his seemingly infinite throwing daggers.

I instantly felt the poison go through my system. My vision blurred and I collapsed. Everything was about to go dark, but I felt a tug on my leg and the sensation slowed to a stop, then reversed. I managed to sit up and saw Sr. manipulating the poison out of my blood.

"You're lucky, that potent a venom could make a god fade." He told me and handed me some ambrosia.

"This isn't working, we need a better plan." You're right, I don't Artemis can hold him back much longer, think while we fight." He told me as Artemis crashed next to us, a shield she had picked up off the field had 8-10 throwing knives stuck in it.

"Let's get him away from the rest of the monsters, things might work out better then." I called to the other two and Artemis threw the shield at her son, knocking him several feet backwards.

I followed up with a heavy kick to the chest which sent him flying into an empty field that at one point probably was filled with monster pimples.

"Careful, don't hurt your little boy." Darren taunted us as we sprinted after him into the field.

He tried slowing us up with more of the damned throwing knives, but we were too close by the time he got the first few off. We forced him to engage us 3 v 1.

At first I thought we had the upper hand with our numbers advantage, but he was fast enough to fight us all at once without so much as a scratch.

Diana was using her full godly speed and was only just managing to keep up with her possessed son. Sr. was on the defensive the whole time, being pinned down by the flurry of strikes being rained down on him. My luck was only a little better, I had a range advantage on him with my gladius, but his whirling dervish strikes were keeping me off balance.

"HAHAHAHA" Darren gave an evil cackle and stomped on the ground, sending all three of us flying backwards.

"You really think you can beat me or my puppet. My art of mind control has become strong enough to possess even a full primordial, face it, you can't stop me." And he gave another evil cackle. I really want to beat the seven shades out of Darren, but I can't hurt Dominic so I am stuck right now.

"The best part is Thame sent you three, who all want to 'rescue' my puppet to use him. None of you actually care, you just want to use him for your own purposes, and unless you can strike at me directly, there is nothing you can do to stop me." And cue more laughs. But it stops abruptly, Dominic's face grew paler than Hades's, his expression looked like it was terrified.

"No, I got rid of you, you were supposed to be dead, or at least, not as powerful as me." He babbled before steeling his expression.

"You three are lucky." He spat, directed at Diana Sr. and I, "I have much more important things to attend to. Have fun until then." With that, Dominic's eyes rolled up in his head, then refocused back to the calm forest green they were when I met him."

"Dominic!" I cried and jumped to hug him, but he leapt back.

"He did something to my powers, I can't control them, get everyone out of here." He shouted before sprinting off deeper into the pit.

"Wait!" I tried to go after him, but Sr. caught my arm.

"Let me. I think he just needs a father son moment, get as much of the army back to Mirage as possible. Thame should be done on his end by now." He said and pushed Diana and I back towards the mass of fighting monsters and undead.

Diana was strangely silent as I called out for a retreat. She slipped off back to her hunters as soon as they came into sight. Hazel was still going at it with Minerva, but managed to slip away by flinging liquid gold at her face, blinding her as she escaped back through the portal. Hades limped back, Thanatos nowhere in sight. Nico and Thalia were the last two thru, both yelling insults at the pursuing monsters.

I was walking back into the portal, but I took one last look back at where Dominic had taken off too. I froze, everything from that direction was being decimated, annihilated, and completely destroyed. The very ground was exploding, the air was turning to stone, mountains were crumbling and the acid clouds in the sky were shattering. It was like the very essence of the pit was tearing itself apart. Tartarus was being forced to self-destruct.

I `gave another tearful look at where Dominic had vanished and stepped fully through the portal, leaving everything behind me to be destroyed.

On the other side, everything was a mess. Diana was herding her hunt off somewhere, Hades was collapsed on the ground, snoring rather loudly, all his undead were just standing around, probably not sure what to do with themselves. Jason and Piper had long since vanished off to some room, good riddance to them. On the other side of the courtyard, Thalia and Nico were speaking with Neptune while pack members were finding their friends among the other group.

Everything was chaotic, no one was taking hold of the situation. I was about to step in when a third portal opened, revealing two gold cloaked figures. One carrying a familiar figure.

The first was clearly Thame. He was carrying Annabeth bridal style and he rushed quickly out with her, well aware all eyes in the court yard were on him. The other gold cloaked figure was quite interesting. He had solid gold blonde hair and blue eyes that twinkled with mischief. He was clearly a son of Mercury, his face was pulled up in the smirk his children had. But the most noticeable feature was a large scar he had running down the left side of his face. It was long and jagged, going right over his eye.

Before he could do anything however, Thalia made her way over to him and just about caved his face in with one punch.

**A thousand apologies for the lateness. I had to get a new laptop and have midterms. I hope the chapter being longer makes up for the lateness. I plan on writing one more chapter for this story, then writing a few for Light and Dark, seeing as the end of the next chapter will bring some major changes. **

**I hope I did all right on the romancy stuff, not really my strong point. I also wanted to add some of the insults that Thalia and Nico would have been shouting at the monsters while escaping Tartarus, but I couldn't really think of any. So if any of you want to send me some, I'll take any of the good ones and edit them into the chapter, thanks for the constant report, all reviews welcomed. **

**Happy Reading –Centurion Africanus **


	28. Chapter 28- return of true wisdom

**I don't own PJO or HOO**

**Percy POV**

Today is the day. Today I drop my disguise and face Darren. Today I get Annabeth back, and nothing is going to stop me.

But first I need a little reinforcements. I wait until both armies have gone through their respective portals, giving Leo and Nico a small salute on their way out.

I use a mix of my birth powers and chaos ones to summon up some chaos mist. It's like an Iris message, but with no restrictions. When the mist finished finding my backup, I flipped my hood back and he gave me a slanted grin.

"So it's time then?" he asked and I gave a nod.

"Damn straight." I told him

He swiped through the message and a portal opened to my left. It was a dark gold, unlike my dark blue gold swirled ones. Out stepped one of the few people I trusted completely. His blue/gold eyes swirling with a mix of mischief and anger. The scar that ran down the left side of his face and through his eye still as clear as the day he got it.

"Ready to go Perce?"" he asked and I gave him a nod.

"I've been ready for 800 years Luke." I told him and he laughed. I opened a new portal and we stepped through.

We reappeared on Mount Olympus, which was strangely deserted. Everyone had either fled, or been killed. The only other time I had seen it like this was when I was chasing after Kronos.

"Ah the memories." Luke said while looking around, obviously remembering the same thing as me.

"We should head to the throne room, that's probably where they are." I said and we started the trek up to the throne room."

"So how's the pack been?" Luke, trying to break the crushing tension.

"Fine, no deaths in a while, how's going through time and correcting history at all the points Kronos tried to mess it up?" I asked, elbowing him.

"Tough, he is one sneaky bastard. Being Cronos's champion is a real pain sometimes, it is just about the only champion job that has to be working all the time."

"Well as exciting as that must be, we got some asshats to beat the crap out of, you ready?" I asked as we reached the throne room doors.

"The only question left is how we play this." Luke joked and we gave each other quick nods and Luke flicked his hood up. We looked almost identical, our robes just had slightly different designs and mine was a lighter shade of gold, and I am pretty sure his had more hidden pouches filled with Hades knows what.

I stood off to the side while Luke kicked the door in, causing it to fly off its hinges and lodge in Zeus's crumbling throne.

"Hey Zap boy, get your sorry ass over here and give me back my sister." He called into as he walked into the dust filled room. I slipped in behind him, invisible.

"So the great Thame has finally come to meet his doom. How predictable." Octavian came into view, sitting on his grandfather's ruined throne. The sight of him sitting where Apollo once sat made my blood boil, but Luke played it cool.

"Me, no, I'm just here for my sister, who you jack asses have kept imprisoned for the past 800 years or so. So if you'll excuse me, I'll find her, kick your ass around a little bit, then be on my merry way." He said and made to walk towards where I was hiding.

A sword implanted itself in front of him. It was made of a light blue steel and it crackled with power. I could feel the amount of electricity coming off it.

"Now, that won't be happening today, instead, you die Thame, and darkness will rule over all." Darren growled, swing the sword around loosely.

"So you got a pretty stick, big whoop. Nice of you to show yourself though Darren McDungface." Luke said while his hand twitched to his own sheathed sword.

"You like it. It used to be my father's master bolt. But I had it melted down and turned into some more suited for me. I made it to model my greatest accomplishment, the downfall of Percy Jackson." He gloated, I had to use all my self-control to not jump out and beat the seven shades of shit out of him. I needed to find Annabeth first.

"So you made your sword like riptide, big deal, and you didn't bring down Percy at all. I really don't care, just hand over my sister and I'll be on my way." Luke said, grasping the handle of his sword.

"You want her, then you must make an exchange, why don't you flip back your little hood so I may see my greatest adversary in the face." He mocked, the sneer on his face really ticked me off. But he had no idea what was coming for him.

"I want to see her first." Luke insisted, dropping the playful indifferent tone for a dark serious one.

"Very well, Octavian, fetch me our guest. I will entertain Mr. Thame here in the meantime." Darren said, giving his sword another twirl. Luke gave me an almost unnoticeable nod and I slipped off after the slimy auger.

Octavian made for a door behind Athena's throne and I heard steel clashing behind me, but I slipped in behind him, Luke was more than capable of handling himself.

I followed Octavian through a long series of passage ways until he came to a locked door. He pulled a key out of his pocket and went to put it in the door, but I beat him to the punch, literally. I decked him in the back of the head and he was out like a light. I caught the key that was slipping out of his hand as he fell in a heap on the floor.

I opened the door and inside was the one person I had been waiting to see for 800 years.

Annabeth.

She was shackled to a wall, but it was completely unnecessary. She was practically in a coma. She was laying on the ground, her eyes closed. She didn't look to bad, but she didn't look good either.

"Annabeth" I tried to shake her awake, but she was completely out.

I took out riptide and slashed through the chains that held her to the floor. I picked her up gently and felt my powers render us both invisible. I carried her back to the throne room when I felt her begin to wake.

I set her down gently and flipped my hood back, both of us became visible as she stirred.

She open her eyes slowly and I panicked and threw my hood back up.

Gone were the grey eyes I had fallen in love with. Only a cold light blue was left. She smiled a twisted smile I had only ever seen on one person before. Captain Asshat himself.

"Why hello, it appears I was correct about Thame not coming alone, although you look very similar to him." Darren's twisted voice came from my wise girl's mouth, her eyes glinting with an evil glee that didn't belong to her.

"Get the fuck outa her head." I growled and drew a pair of daggers from within my cloak.

"Now, why would I do that, you won't hurt me while I'm in here, so I'll stay put copy freak." Darren growled and lunged at me, controlling Annabeth to swing a familiar dagger at me. It was her original dagger, the one that killed Kronos, but it glowed with a smooth black light, I could hear cries of sorrow as he twirled it in his hands. Apparently leaving a weapon in the river Cocytus for years changes it a bit.

"Controlling multiple bodies your own, more impressive than before, but not good enough lightning freak." I reposed his blow with my knife and swung back, but I had to change the path of my blade when he made no move to dodge or stop the blow.

"You see why you can never beat me, I know you need this meat sack, she's your final champion, and I don't think a certain mr. Jackson would like it if you hurt his beloved." He taunted me and I had to stop myself from making a scathing remark back, If I could keep them from knowing who I was, it would be a better advantage for the next stage of our plan.

I just swung again, this time to try and knock her out, Darren would be temporally forced out of Annabeth's head long enough for me to grab her and get the Hades out of here.

The body snatcher noticed my change in strategy almost immediately and moved to parry. We dueled shortly, I worked on slowly moving back into the room of crumbling thrones, but he stopped me by using one of the walls to flip over my head, barely giving me enough time to parry a blow directed at my head.

"New strategy then." I growled and threw all caution to the wind. I pulled my hood off and the face of Percy Jackson met Annabeth's controlled body.

"Percy…" her voice was small and hoarse from disuse, but in the moment of surprise, I managed to bring Annabeth back out.

"Argh." She gave a cry and hunched over, then straightened up again, Darren's mind control seen glowing from her eyes.

"As I suspected. Thame would distract the real me while you came in and retrieved the useless body I'm in now, as predicted by Athena, Jackson." He mocked in a superior tone, but I didn't stop there. I pulled riptide out of it's sheath and gave it a twirl, letting off a wave of power, both the power from chaos and Anake, which sent him back out into the throne room, I winced a little as Annabeth's body hit the back of the throne.

"No, I sent a good friend of mine to distract you while I handle this personally." I growled and then addressed Annabeth.

"Common wise girl, don't let thunder turd stick around in your head, I know you have never given up before and I know you won't now, fight him." I almost begged, then reached into my pocket and pulled out the ring from the beach all those years ago, the night that this all began. I was going to ask you then and I'll ask you now, Annabeth Chase, will you marry me?" I had my fingers crossed this would work.

"HAHAHA, you really thought that would work, I have spent years hunting down every last piece of your little girlfriend conscious, killing her mind slowly. Annabeth Chase is dead." He gave a laugh, but it cut short, a mixed expression appeared on her face.

"No, I got rid of you, you were supposed to be dead, or at least, not as powerful as me." His expression turned to genuine fear, then he gave a shriek and a large pop rang through the air. Annabeth collapsed. I rushed to her side and saw her slowly opening her eyes, the stunning grey back to their former glory.

"Bout damn time seaweed brain." She mumbled before fainting, I tried and failed to hold in a laugh, my wise girl was back.

I quickly refocused and picked up Annabeth and resheathed riptide and made my way back into the throne room. Darren was using immense amounts of shadows and Luke was barely staying ahead, having to speed up time around him to even keep up with Darren's glowing blue scythe. What is it with super evil guys and scythes, seems to be a pattern.

I carefully set Annabeth down and leapt into the fight, knocking Darren into the side of Hermes's crumbling throne, turning it to dust.

"Get her to safety Luke, It's time I finish this." I said, throwing my cloak off entirely, giving Riptide another twirl to throw Darren back into a wall.

"So, my two greatest enemies, Percy Jackson and the elusive Thame are one and the same, how nice, less people for me to kill." He spat out a little blood.

"Shut up and fight me bastard." I growled at him, Luke had gotten Annabeth and was already out the door, but he came sprinting back.

"Call it off Percy, more champions incoming." He called I gave one last hateful glare at Darren now smirking hunched over form, before grabbing my cloak, throwing on, and opened a portal back to Mirage.

"Catch!" Luke called and tossed Annabeth over to me, drawing his remodeled Backbiter and sending off a wave of energy at the door. I caught sight of Athena as she saw Luke and I, her face turned from anger to downright fury. It seems I don't even need to say anything to piss her off anymore, it made me feel good.

"Common!" I called to Luke and the two of us charged back into the portal. I flicked my hood up as an afterthought as we went through the portal.

I headed straight from the portal to the infirmary, leaving Luke to deal with a probably pissed Thalia. The crunch and cry of pain I heard next confirmed my theory. Although I wasn't looking forward to my own knuckle sandwich from Thalia when I really reveal myself.

I got Annabeth back to a room I had prepared for her and did a mental role call with Nico and Leo. Nico gave me some good news, Dominic was partly in his own state of mind and Sr. was going to try and finish healing his mind. Leo was just static, he had blocked my mind out for some reason, or something worse, but I trusted he would be fine.

Annabeth stirred and I flipped back my hood, barely able to contain my joy.

"Hey Seaweed Brain." Annabeth greeted my groggily, rubbing her head.

I couldn't stop myself anymore. "Annabeth!" I jumped on her and hugged her close to my chest, sobbing.

"Shh, shh" she hugged me tightly, crying just as much as me.

"I thought I'd lost you." I sobbed and she just hugged me tighter.

After some time and plenty of tears, I finally let her go.

"So do you even want to know how deep the shit we've gotten ourselves into is?" I asked, ready to break the news of another war, but Annabeth, as usual, was one step ahead of me.

"Nyx already told me everything, how do you think I got my knife back." She said holding up her knife, still glowing with a dark purple/black power.

"Do I even want to know?" I asked and she shrugged.

"I just had to evade being completely destroyed within my own mind until you found me. Then the latent championship blessing Nyx placed on me would take hold, which I'm guessing would be about…" she trailed off, then glowed a dark purple, almost black, but still definably purple.

When the light faded, Annabeth looked healthier than ever. All the whip marks and scars had faded completely, the deep bruises on her wrists and ankles where she had been chained faded into tattoos of broken cuffs, a symbol of her freedom at long last.

Her eyes had changed too. They used to be a medium grey, like steel, like Athena's. Now they had become darker and shone brighter. If you looked at the right angle, they seemed to have streams of purple going through them like the churning waters of the Styx.

"Wow that feels better." Annabeth said stretching, slowly getting out of the bed I put her in, getting used to controlling her own limbs again.

"You up for a quick spar then Wise girl?" I asked holding up my newly reforged Riptide. She smiled wider than I had seen since before the Titan war, it made my heart jump with joy.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world Seaweed Brain."

**I'm pretty sure sorry doesn't cut it. I am up to my neck in work, lax, and drivers ed, mixed with lack of inspiration. I know I'm going to post as much as I can starting the week of the 28****th****, my spring break, but it will be slow going until summer, I refuse to go on Hiatus though. **

**Happy Reading- Centurion Africanus**


	29. Chapter 29- spy with a purpose

**I don't own PJO or HOO**

**Dominic Jr. POV**

I woke up in a dark cave, an eerily familiar one at that.

It was the cave I grew up in, the one where I was trained to hate the gods, and all life itself. It was here I first learned what betrayal was, had my sense of right and wrong permanently skewed.

I got up slowly, last I remembered I was being tortured by Tartarus and Erebus, and now I was in a place that haunted my nightmares and looking down at myself, I had way more weaponry than I was used to, and judging by the empty sheathes, I had much more at one point.

I did a quick inventory and was severely disappointed. All I had were 20 some bottles of various deadly poison, over a hundred throwing and disposable knives tucked in the weirdest places, even in my shoes and hood.

And I had my two main knives still, thankfully. The sleek white bone knives were hilt deep in the wall behind me. I went to grab them from the wall, but when I grabbed them, a bolt of pain ran through me, and my mind went numb. I was blown away from the wall, just managing to get my knives from the wall.

I looked down at the twin blades, inspecting them for damage, but the sight was much worse than any crack on a blade.

The blades were oozing dark power, something I had known they held, but had refused to use, and seeing them like this, but still in my possession meant only one thing, somehow they had gotten to me, broken my resolve, and shattered my will.

Tartarus had made me his champion. I searched my memories and I was assaulted by pain, but it wasn't psychical, no, my brain felt like it was melting, boiling and churning with memories. I let the pain wash over me, for every second I felt the pain, I regained another memory.

I remembered Reyna and the other immortals trapped in Tartarus. I remembered the feeling I had for the immortal Roman praetor, and how Erebus's champion had used that against me, twisted my mind, warped reality, and took control of my mind.

I remembered the planning meetings that went into defending the remaining champion so she wouldn't receive Nyx's blessing. I remembered how they made me spill vital information, including Thorn's identity and our numbers.

I now can see why Thame insisted that he be the only one to know everything, because no matter how loyal anyone was to our cause, mind control was real and the enemy had a master at it.

The memories continued, I remembered fighting my parents, and felt a little sheepish at how my dad had been one position in front of me for hundreds of years and I never bothered to put the pieces together, or even ask his backstory, or anyone else's for that matter.

I remembered seeing through Erebus's champion for a few seconds, seeing Thame and another gold cloaked man escaping with a blonde hair girl who was unconscious. They had gotten the final champion.

I remembered my power's being overridden, my control being lost, breaking through the mind control for a spilt second, just enough that I could warn my parents and someone else. My memory was foggy during that part. I remembered running as far as I could as fast as I could, I had sprinted the route I had taken countless times before, to my first home, and the power broke free, and everything went black.

The pain slowly stopped and I rose from my knees. I had almost killed my friends and family, I needed to clear my head.

I sat lotus style and journeyed into my mind space, a power Thame personally taught all people who joined the pack, it was dangerous as it left the body defenseless, but it was something that I needed to do.

When I felt my conscious self reach my mind space, I opened my eyes and stood up. I knew immediately that something was wrong.

My mind was usually a calm quite forest, the only sounds being the chirping of birds and the hum of bugs, and the occasional deer or two, the perfect hunter's paradise.

Now my mind was a demolished forest, like the stupid humans had been doing to Pan's realm before Zeus stopped their tech from advancing. Trees were slashed to pieces, branches ripped from them and scattered on a scorched ground.

Other trees were warped and burned, their bark all the way to their core was a sickly black. All of this was disturbing, but there was more, more trees were being ripped apart and struck by lightning, and the storm that was ripping my mind apart was centered on a single man in a dark cloak who seemed to be waiting for me.

"So you're Erebus's champion, nice to meet you under non torture circumstances." I called to him, slowly walking towards him, drawing a few of the many knives that I had on my new outfit.

"Another talker, I guess Thame choose to have fighters who would piss their opposition off rather than good fighters." His voice was cold and robotic, almost like he was being controlled himself.

"Nah, just trained to be sarcastic, never did like it, I'm more the strong silent hunter guy." I told him, throwing a knife at him quickly, but he dodged with ease.

"Then you should be grateful to me, for I turned you from a hunter of beasts to a hunter of men." He said, flicking a knife of his own at me, which I dodged just as easily as he did to mine.

"Then I know my next target, you." And with that, I lunged, slashing at him with all my speed and forcing him onto the defensive immediately. He either dodged or blocked my blows with a glowing blue scythe.

"You'll need to do better than that, I'm a master of mental warfare, more powerful than Athena herself." He gloated, his violent blue eyes glowing from under his hood.

"But not most powerful." I prodded, swinging my blades in reverse grip, aiming to sever his arm while simultaneously aiming to stab him in the heart. He blocked the first strike and managed to twist out of the way of the second before returning with a blow that would have taken my head clean off had I not jumped clean out of the way.

"You are pathetic and not worth the power Tartarus bestowed to you, but worry not, I will end your pitiful mind and use your body to destroy your friends." He said in a voice that told me he was the farthest thing from sane.

"You can try, but you will fail, I will protect my friends." I answered and struck at him with renewed passion and effort, all the lesson with Thame paying off.

"You talk big, of protecting your friends, your loved ones, but you attacked them, you would have killed them. They hate you." His words hurt worse than any blade could, which was ironic, because as he spoke them, he landed a glancing blow to my side. His blade was filled with electricity, giving me quite the shock.

"Even if they do, I'll still defend them, because that's who I am, who all the hunters of fate are." I growled at him and struck with a fury I didn't know I possessed, I let the dark energy Tartarus bestowed on me flow through me, fighting with my barest instincts, like a true hunter, the one I was born to be.

I didn't hesitate to use the poison I had found on my person, it was my heritage as a grandson of Acyls. I threw a vial of hydra venom right in his face, blinding him, and I used my daggers to finish him, lobbing his filthy head from his putrid body.

It was over, my mind was completely my own again, but the war wasn't won, he was still out there, and the wound in my side was taking its toll. I opened my eyes and saw the real world again, my side gushing blood.

I tried to close the wound, but I had no medical equipment, no nectar, and no ambrosia. I laid back and waited to die, it was all for nothing, the wound was too deep to close on its own.

I felt myself on death's door, then I was pulled back to reality, my vision becoming clearer and the blood stopping. Someone was rubbing nectar into my side.

"Rest my son, you are not out of this war yet, but for now rest." I heard a voice say before I completely blacked out.

**Leo POV **

For all I knew the war had already ended while I was in that bubble with Calypso. We spent what could have been hours, days, weeks just making out and other stuff no one needs to hear about.

But at the end of all that, we were left with one simple question, what the hell are we going to do now.

"So Leo, I have an idea." Caly pitched, a glint in her eyes told me this was going to be trouble.

"As long as we're not separated, then I'm all for it." I told her, drinking in her face for the millionth time in that hour alone.

"Well you're just gonna have to grow up, because there is still a war going on and we just happen to be on different sides." She retorted, snapping me back to reality.

"So we have to fight?" I asked, my face falling.

"I never said that, I just said that we need to seem like we are." She said, the crazed gleam in her eye looked so much my own when I had an idea for an invention.

"You want to play spy, don't you." I asked, already knowing the answer.

"I'm not going to be playing anything, I'm going to be a spy, for the good guys." She insisted, I wasn't going to be able to change her mind.

"Then what's the story, why did you get so held up fighting me, and how did you get away." I drilled her, making her think on the spot.

"We're both the destruction specialists, our powers are dead even, meaning I was battling you until we both fell unconscious from our wounds. When I woke up, you were gone and left me, being a noble hero, you wouldn't kill an unconscious opponent. I then just went back to the rendezvous point." Caly fired off her explanation, and I had to admit, it was a good one.

"Fine, but how are we going to stay in contact, iris messaging will be too obvious." I asked and she had to think.

"Can't be anything with electricity, or hooded mc-cloak arse will detect it, so we can't use any of your tech." Calypso thought for a moment, but she gave me an idea.

"We could use these, they're mist generated earpieces, and they're completely, even to the wearer, and the one who made them can sense them, it's how the pack usually stays in contact." I said, holding up the invisible magic object.

"How can I put it in if I can't see or sense it?" she asked, but I slipped up next to her and gently put it in her and tapped my own.

_'That's how'_ I said to her in her mind and we then proceeded to make out for another half hour.

"Well, we have a war to win, and after that, we are getting our happily ever after." I told Calypso and she agreed with a tired nod. As she drifted off to sleep, I let her lay on my chest, honestly, what little fighting we had done took a lot out of me, I was just as tired as she was.

I knew we both had to go back, lick our wounds, everyone did. Percy had been trying to get a hold of me almost nonstop since the Empire State Building crashed outside, but he could wait, everything could wait. I looked down at Caly softly sleeping on my chest and for a moment, everything was perfect.

**I know, way too long and way too short, but school is finally over, and I plan on wrapping up at least one or two of my stories this summer since I plan on writing two more. I'm taking over Fallen by DragonWriter357, which is one of my favorite stories. I also plan on doing a collaboration story with Scorily4ever, a Harry Potter with Percy Jackson crossover. **

**I will probably get a chapter for Light and Dark out next, and maybe start up one of the new stories after that. I'm basically going to be writing 24/7 when I'm not at football training. **

**Happy Reading and Happy Summer- Centurion Africanus**


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